A Service for Palm Sunday

Note: This is a service especially designed for those unable to worship in a Christian community this week who would like to pray online with others. Of course, all are welcome! It’s not intended to be a substitute for regular attendance in a Christian congregation. If you’re currently seeking a church home, please feel free to add a comment and I’ll be glad to assist you in your search. Please feel free to share comments as appropriate.

Opening Hymn: “All Glory, Laud and Honor” (Music)

Refrain

All glory, laud and honor,
To Thee, Redeemer, King,
To Whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

Thou art the King of Israel,
Thou David’s royal Son,
Who in the Lord’s Name comest,
The King and Blessèd One.

Refrain

The company of angels
Are praising Thee on High,
And mortal men and all things
Created make reply.

Refrain

The people of the Hebrews
With palms before Thee went;
Our prayer and praise and anthems
Before Thee we present.

Refrain

To Thee, before Thy passion,
They sang their hymns of praise;
To Thee, now high exalted,
Our melody we raise.

Refrain

Thou didst accept their praises;
Accept the prayers we bring,
Who in all good delightest,
Thou good and gracious King.

Refrain

+Let us bless the Holy Name of Jesus, who was proclaimed King of Kings, and was willing to suffer death for our salvation.

Hosanna to the Son of God!+

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have Mercy On Us (Ancient Christian prayer, said 3X)

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer 1979)

A Reading from Isaiah

54:4-9 50:4 The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. cb(50,5); 50:5 The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. cb(50,6); 50:6 I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting. cb(50,7); 50:7 For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed. cb(50,8); 50:8 He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. cb(50,9); 50:9 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me; who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up. (World English Bible)

Psalm 31:9-16

9 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; *
my eye is consumed with sorrow,
and also my throat and my belly.

10

For my life is wasted with grief,
and my years with sighing; *
my strength fails me because of affliction,
and my bones are consumed.

11

I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my
neighbors,
a dismay to those of my acquaintance; *
when they see me in the street they avoid me.

12

I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; *
I am as useless as a broken pot.

13

For I have heard the whispering of the crowd;
fear is all around; *
they put their heads together against me;
they plot to take my life.

14

But as for me, I have trusted in you, O LORD. *
I have said, “You are my God.

15

My times are in your hand; *
rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
and from those who persecute me.

16

Make your face to shine upon your servant, *
and in your loving-kindness save me.” (Book of Common Prayer, 1979)

A reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians

Philippians 2:5-11

2:5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, cb(2,6); 2:6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, cb(2,7); 2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. cb(2,8); 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross. cb(2,9); 2:9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; cb(2,10); 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, cb(2,11); 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (World English Bible)

Go to Dark Gethsemane (Music)

Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter’s power;
Your Redeemer’s conflict see, watch with Him one bitter hour,
Turn not from His griefs away; learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

See Him at the judgment hall, beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned;
O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs His soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss; learn of Christ to bear the cross.

Calvary’s mournful mountain climb; there, adoring at His feet,
Mark that miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete.
“It is finished!” hear Him cry; learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Early hasten to the tomb where they laid His breathless clay;
All is solitude and gloom. Who has taken Him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes; Savior, teach us so to rise.

The Passion Gospel According to Mark

15:1 Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate. cb(15,2); 15:2 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”He answered, “So you say.”

cb(15,3);

15:3 The chief priests accused him of many things. cb(15,4); 15:4 Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!”cb(15,5);

15:5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.cb(15,6);

15:6 Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whom they asked of him. cb(15,7); 15:7 There was one called Barabbas, bound with those who had made insurrection, men who in the insurrection had committed murder. cb(15,8); 15:8 The multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do as he always did for them. cb(15,9); 15:9 Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” cb(15,10); 15:10 For he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up. cb(15,11); 15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should release Barabbas to them instead. cb(15,12); 15:12 Pilate again asked them, “What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?”cb(15,13);

15:13 They cried out again, “Crucify him!”cb(15,14);

15:14 Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?”But they cried out exceedingly, “Crucify him!”

cb(15,15);

15:15 Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified. cb(15,16); 15:16 The soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they called together the whole cohort. cb(15,17); 15:17 They clothed him with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him. cb(15,18); 15:18 They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” cb(15,19); 15:19 They struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him. cb(15,20); 15:20 When they had mocked him, they took the purple off of him, and put his own garments on him. They led him out to crucify him.

15:21 They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross. cb(15,22); 15:22 They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, “The place of a skull.” cb(15,23); 15:23 They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it.cb(15,24);

15:24 Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take. cb(15,25); 15:25 It was the third hour, and they crucified him. cb(15,26); 15:26 The superscription of his accusation was written over him, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” cb(15,27); 15:27 With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left. cb(15,28); 15:28 The Scripture was fulfilled, which says, “He was numbered with transgressors.”cb(15,29);

15:29 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, cb(15,30); 15:30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!”cb(15,31);

15:31 Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself. cb(15,32); 15:32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him insulted him.cb(15,33);

15:33 When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. cb(15,34); 15:34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”^*cb(15,35);

15:35 Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”cb(15,36);

15:36 One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”cb(15,37);

15:37 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit. cb(15,38); 15:38 The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. cb(15,39); 15:39 When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (World English Bible)
Ah, Holy Jesus (Music)

Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee.
’Twas I, Lord, Jesus, I it was denied Thee!
I crucified Thee.

Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.

For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.

A Palm Sunday Sermon for Kids

A Palm Sunday Meditation

Asking Our Lord Jesus to have mercy on us and hear our prayers, let us pray with confidence in His Holy Name.

We pray for Your Church, that it may be made one in You just as You prayed that Your followers might be one. Let all clergy and lay people have Your same spirit of  love and sacrifice. Bring us all to the foot of the cross.

We pray for all the nations of the world, that they may seek Your truth and justice. We pray for those who suffer, that they may know the power of Your love.

We pray for those in need, that they may fully know the extent of Your love for them.

We pray for those who have died, that they may know You as their Lord and King in eternity.

We ask these in the Name of Jesus, the Name above all names. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. for ever and ever. Amen

May our gracious Lord, who humbled Himself for our salvation, bless us and keep us.

The Old Rugged Cross (Music)

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Refrain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

Refrain

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

Refrain

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.

Refrain