I have never lived this soul moment before

Sunday of the Passion, Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11

It’s the same thing, only different.  The story will be familiar.  From the text, the narrative describes Jesus entering Jerusalem.  For the congregation, the awkward hesitant procession with palms.  We’ve done it, read it, dozens of times before. 

But today is different.  Different because my life is different, my soul is different.  I have never lived this soul moment before.  I am at a new place in my life, in my baptismal journey.  I have more past, less future.

On the one hand, I know what to expect, what I embark upon, as I enter this pilgrimage through Holy Week to Easter.  It is familiar terrain, familiar and comfortable.  But I also know there will be surprises, awakenings, and discoveries.  I am confident that I will be led into deeper and new experiences of Christ.  And so I am comforted, but also anxious.  Faith will be tempered and renewed.

The Christ beckons us on.  Come. Follow. Receive.  Amidst the crowd, the chaos, and the cacophony, keep your heart focused on the Lamb.  Hosanna!

May pain draw forth compassion, let wisdom rise from loss;

Oh, take my heart and fashion the image of your cross;

Then may I know your healing through healing that I share,

Your grace and love revealing, your tenderness and care.

                                                               ELW 703

O Lord, support us all the day long of this troubled life, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over, and our work is done.  Then, in your mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

--Bishop Allan Bjornberg