C O N T E N T S Visual Liturgy . 1 "Entry of Christ Into Jerusalem" by Wilhelm Morgner Piano Prelude . 2 F I R S T "Gade" (Edvard Grieg) Nathan Callahan-Lewallen A U S T I N Procession of the Palms . 2 from Rev. Jared Slack Call to Worship & Invocation . 2 from Rev. Jared Slack A B A P T I S T C O M M U N I T Y O F F A I T H Music for Reflection . 3 "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" Rev. Carrie Houston (violin) & Ross Tarpley (piano) 9 0 1 T R I N I T Y S T . Scripture Reading . 3 ( 5 1 2 ) 4 7 6 - 2 6 2 5 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 read by Samantha Greenleaf Hymn of Praise . 4 "All Glory, Laud and Honor" O N L I N E Margaret Henderson, Linda Ramsey, John Raff, & Paul Pew W O R S H I P G U I D E A Message to Children . 4 from Dorothy Strickland S U N D A Y , A R P I L 5 , 2 0 2 0 Scripture Reading . 4 Matthew 21:1-11 read by Linda Miller-Raff "Waving Palms Today" . 5 P A L M A Homily on Matt. 21:1-11 and Psalm 118 from Rev. Dr. Griff Martin S U N D A Y Prayer for Reflection . .9 from "Feasting on the Word" Moment for Mission . 10 from Mike Hendrix Benediction . 10 from Rev. Dr. Griff Martin Piano Postlude . 10 "Improvisation on 'All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" by Paul Pew Visual Liturgy "Entry of Christ Into Jerusalem" by Wilhelm Morgner What does this painting stir within you? 1 Piano Prelude Click HERE to listen to "Gade" (Edvard Grieg), performed by Nathan Callahan-Lewallen Procession of the Palms Click below to watch a video celebrating Palm Sunday through memory, compiled and created by Rev. Jared Slack. Call to Worship & Invocation Click below to watch our Call to Worship and Invocation, led by Rev. Jared Slack. 2 Music for Reflection Click HERE to listen to an instrumental rendition of "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" from Godspell, performed by Rev. Carrie Houston (violin) and Ross Tarpley (piano). Scripture Reading Click HERE to follow along with Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, read by Samantha Greenleaf O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures forever." Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we beseech you, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech you, give us success! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless you from the house of the LORD. The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you. O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 3 Hymn of Praise Click HERE to listen to First Austin's traditional Palm Sunday Processional Hymn, "All Glory, Laud and Honor," sung by Margaret Henderson, Linda Ramsey, John Raff, and Paul Pew. A Message to Children Click below to watch a video message from Mrs. Dorothy. Scripture Readings: Matthew 21:1-11 Click HERE to follow along with Matthew 21:1-11, read by Linda Miller-Raff When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion, look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” This is the word of our Lord. Thanks be to God. 4 "Waving Palms Today" Click below to watch the sermon and/or read it below. A Homily on Matthew 21:1-11 and Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 What do you want to be remembered for… the best thing you ever did or the worst thing you ever did? We are entering Holy Week and we typically enter this week with 20/20 vision looking backwards. And as a result of that I think a lot of what the church typically does this week is a lot of blaming and judging, as if we know better; as if we would have done things differently. And we look at people for the worst thing they did. For instance we talk about the crowd this morning… And there are a lot of sermons out there that will be about this crowd that welcomes Jesus and then we so quickly turn to how quickly they turn on Jesus and they yell "crucify him. "And then throughout the week we do the same with the disciples… In particular Judas and Peter… How Judas sold Jesus out, how Peter denies Jesus, how the disciples fall asleep in prayer, how all the disciples run in fear. We get to this week, this week we know as Holy Week and we focus on the worst things most of these people ever did. Which makes me think about the Golden Rule, the standard of almost any and every religious teaching that claims truth… do unto others as we would have done unto us, to treat others like we want to be treated, love one another. 5 ("Waving Palms Today" cont.) And I don’t know about you, but I would much rather be remembered for the best things I did and not the worst. And my hunch is that is exactly how God views our lives. So what if we looked this week and focused not on the worst things, but on the best things… For instance this crowd this day, maybe they deserve a second look because they might very well have something very important to teach us and to call us to this day. It’s important to remember that there were two parades on Palm Sunday. We know about one and we forget the other one. The other parade happened on the other side of town, the West side and this parade welcomed Pontius Pilate (and welcomed might not be the best word there.) Pilate was all about fear and his parade was all about fear, he was not there to celebrate anything that day, he was there because the Empire was very anxious about the celebration of the Jewish festival of Passover. He was there to make sure things did not get out of control. He was there to remind people who was really in charge. So the people did not exactly welcome him, they bowed down to him out of fear and his parade would have surely created fear. It was a display of military strength and power, a reminder of what would happen if anyone got any sort of crazy idea that there was any power in the world greater than the power of the Roman empire. Pilate being in town created a weird atmosphere… Fear would have been palpable, regular routines would have been changed, there were places you would have avoided to avoid the powers of Rome. People were sensitive and scared of what was next. The enemy from afar, who could never be a vocally named enemy, was now present among them. Fear was everywhere. The very passage you just heard read has a phrase that sticks out, that tells us all we need to know about the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, Matthew tells us- reports to us- that “the whole city was in turmoil.” Meaning troubled, shaken, trembled. And we know what that is like. And that is the context in which the other parade, the one we know better takes place. Which means that those who see Jesus entering town and grab a palm branch and shout out: Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 6 ("Waving Palms Today" cont.) Those who are doing that work are doing so in the face of fear, they are aware of the context in which they are shouting, they know it’s not only dangerous it’s also incredible foolish, however it’s what they believe right then and there.