A belated post of our Palm Sunday sermon. As we have done the past few years, the Associate Pastor and I did a two-person sermon. We were restricted in our movements by the camera recording the service.
”Where Have you Seen God…Still Looking” April 5, 2020; Palm Sunday; St. Andrew, Denton; Psalm 118; Matthew 27:15-26 Lisa Patterson and Richard B. Culp
Richard: 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.
Lisa: Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. 16 At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus[g] Barabbas.
Richard: 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.
Lisa: So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus[h] Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”[i] 18 For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.
Richard: 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.
Lisa: While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.”
Richard: 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.[d]
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
Lisa: Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”
Richard: The Lord is God,
and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.[e]
Lisa: Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”[j] All of them said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
Richard: 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.
Lisa: So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood;[k] see to it yourselves.” 25 Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
Introduction:
(step to carpet)
Richard: Today was supposed to be sort of fun sermon. Or at least the beginning was going to be kind of fun.
LIsa: Fun?
Richard: I had it planned that we would start the service playing hide and seek in the pews.
Lisa: Really? We were going to play hide and seek in the pews.
richard: Yeah. Can’t you see it. You could have been kneeled over on the far side of the sanctuary, and I could have been looking for you.
Lisa: I’ve got that image. And you thought that was going to be fun. Me hiding out behind a pew while you looked for me.
Richard; Of course. too bad with the live stream camera we can’t see all the pews so we can’t play hide and seek.
Lisa: Too bad!
Richard: Maybe we could do a quick game of hide and seek here in the chancel area?
Lisa: Really? why don’t we just give s sermon with no game this morning.
In fact, the title of the sermon we chose may fit better with our current situation than with a game of hide and seek.
Richard: What do you mean?
Lisa: “Looking for God….Still looking”….
I believe people are looking for God in isolation in just about any place they can find it.
At the grocery store when we stand at safe distances from each other but still want to connect by helping each other through sharing where toilet paper was last spotted or picking up something our neighbor hadn’t been able to get at the last pickup and doing a porch delivery.
In neighbor’s who from 12 feet away share their house number and number just in case something is needed and neighborhood groups who pick up and drop off needed items for those who really can’t get out.
In news stories of ordinary people doing ordinary things, like working from home with children, but which become extraordinary in light of the circumstances of Covid-19 and we see each other all over again.
In humor – people are sharing funny clips online or sending funny illustrations to help us laugh
In these services when we come together and hope and trust that we will be like that parade of people so many centuries ago cheering for the Savior to appear and manifest himself in our lives today…
Richard: People still look, seeing glimpses of God in their midst, but also longing to touch a loved one who is dying in a room somewhere we are not allowed to go; longing to hug our first responder spouse, who quarantines in a separate bedroom; longing to be together in space with friends and family; longing for a return to our normal, mundane routine.
Still looking and longing.
Move 1 : As we heard the Scripture lessons read, both the Psalm that cries out for God to save us and the crowds calling to crucify Jesus, we are reminded of places where we see God.
Lisa: The God who comes to save us…..
To save us from our doubts, failings, uncertainties, anxieties, worries, sadness, loss, pain, and isolation. Our savior comes humbly, quietly, to each one of us and to the whole, wide world. We do not even need to change out of our ubiquitous yoga pants, sweats, shorts, t-shirts, or house slippers. Jesus comes to seek us out, he comes before we think we are ready, he comes whether we know how to zoom or not and whether we feel like we’re the ones always needing help rather than the other way around. Jesus comes right into the middle of it all, so close that his breath of peace touches and heals us. . .
Richard: The God whom we find on the cross. Alone at his death; outright betrayed by most; left on his own by even his closest friends and family.
Jesus goes to isolation hell, literally, so that we might never find ourselves in a place he has not been and he is not willing to go.
(both walk up)
Move 2: Lisa: Sort of weird to have Palm Sunday without the parade, without lots of people with waving palms, without shouting “hosannas.”
Richard: Yeah, not feeling the excitement or the crowd right now in the sanctuary.
Lisa: Reminds me of an article which Jill Duffield, the editor of “Presbyterian Outlook” wrote in which she asked what it would have been like if Jerusalem had been under “Shelter in place” back when Jesus rode into the Jerusalem.
Richard I’m guessing on palms.
Lisa: No people lining the street with their coats.
Richard: No shouting Hosannas
Lisa: No little kids
Richard: I read about people in Siena, Italy who were locked down, so they leaned out their windows or sang from their balconies. Separate places; one chorus of voices. maybe you have seen the video that has gone viral (Century Marks,” Christian Century, April 8, 2020, 8).
Lisa: I can see, people leaning out their windows in Jerusalem, keeping their six feet social distance, shouting “hosanna’
Richard: And the kids waving their palm branches from their bedroom windows (I’m not sure they actually had bedroom windows in Jerusalem, but as long was we are using our imagination…)
Lisa: But here’s the point - it does not matter whether the streets were filled with people shouting hosanna or not.
Richard: Jesus was the Son of God; Jesus was riding into Jerusalem to embrace his choice to die on the cross to save us.
Lisa: Jesus is the one who saves us regardless of anything else.
Richard: Reminds us for whom we are looking.
Lisa: We see signs of God in lots of places….
Richard: We know it is God when the work being done brings us new life and hope.
Lisa: Sometimes the new life means we see God with us in death, moving us toward new life beyond our earthly lives.
Richard: The Psalmist cries out: Save us, which means “hosanna” And God has done it, God is doing it, God will keep doing it.
Lisa: That who Jesus is, the one who saves us, whether we wave palm branches and shout “hosanna” or not.
Richard: Jesus could only be who God sent him to be - our Lord and Savior.
move 3: Lisa: I’m back to thinking about hide and seek.
Richard: you mean you want to try playing a game here in the chancel. Maybe Jeff, Chris, Rachel, Parker, and Nikole can join in. It’s going to be hard to keep social distance, though.
Lisa: give the game up, Richard. Not going to happen. But I was thinking how in some ways shelter in place feels a bit like hide and seek. we are hiding out…
Richard: Trying to hide from an unseen virus is quite a challenge.
Lisa: but we are not just hopelessly hiding out. We are also being sought by the God who seeks to join with us.
Richard: Exactly, the God who joins with us in the flesh will not be kept from finding us, wherever we find ourselves.
Lisa: Into the forced isolation comes God.
Richard: I love that image. God seeking us out wherever we are. Sounds a lot like the story Jesus told about the shepherd who went looking for the one lost sheep.
Lisa: hide and seek! What a powerful reminder of the God who seeks us out in our hiding places.
But do you know what image I like even more? The game seek and hide.
Richard: Seek and hide? You mean the game where one person hides and everyone else tries to find them and then they hide out with them?
Lisa: You got it. Right now, our lives are like a game of hide and seek. We are hiding out, and we know that God is seeking us out.
but I long for the day when we find ourselves together, like the end of a game of Seek and Hide.
Conclusion: Richard: So we sing Hosannas in the assurance that the God who sent Christ to save us is even now working to find us and bring us to new life wherever we are.
We look for the day when we will gather together in person and celebrate the new life God brings forth.
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