Koonung Heights – Surrey Hills Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Palm / Passion Sunday – 13 April 2025 – 10am or whenever possible
You may like to light a candle during your time of worship.
Feel free to text the Peace to other members of the congregation.
Introit: “Hosanna” – (TiS 724)
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the hightest!
Lord, we lift up your name, with hearts full of praise.
Be exalted, O Lord my God! Hosanna in the highest!
Candle Lighting:
When the shouting is silenced,
a light still shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.
We light the Christ candle to remind us of that light,
and to be light for others in the shouting and in the silence.
Acknowledgement of Country:
This land is God’s land and God’s Spirit dwells here.
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung People,
traditional custodians of this land under God.
I pay respects to their elders and to all people who have guided us.
Call to Worship:
On this day, Jesus marched
in between the city walls and the Temple,
in between joyful Hosannas
and doubtful whispers,
in between oppressive poverty and greedy power,
in between rampant fear and hope unfurled.
On this day, Jesus marched in between what had been and what could be.
So may we meet Christ in that in-between space.
May we lay down our coats in that messy middle.
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna in between!
Opening Prayer:
Speaking God,
Most days we are inundated with noise.
Some of it is good – laughter, music, storytelling.
Some of it is hard – arguments, slurs, news of war and tragedy.
Every day we live between silence and shouting,
rotating through quiet and noise.
So in the midst of this messy middle,
help us to hear what is yours.
Help us to hear your song, your story, your good news.
Help us to hear your voice, your Spirit, your will.
And show us how to release the rest.
We are listening.
Amen.
Theme:
Today is a strange Sunday in the Christian calendar. It is a day with two names – Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. It is a day of two moods – celebration and foreboding. It is a day when, if we listen deeply, we will hear both loyalty and plans for betrayal; both joy and fear. Palm / Passion Sunday is a day much like the times in which we live – times in between, times of shouting and times of silence. Let us be attentive and hear what God has to say to us on this day.
We Sing: “All glory, praise and honour” – (TiS 333)
All glory, praise and honour to you, redeemer, king,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
You are the king of Israel and David’s royal son,
now in the Lord’s name coming, the king and blessed one.
All glory …
The people of the Hebrews with palms before you went:
our praise and prayer and anthems before you we present.
All glory …
To you before your passion they sang their hymns of praise:
to you now high exalted our melody we raise.
All glory …
Their praise you accepted: accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good take pleasure, our good and gracious king.
All glory …
Call to Confession:
Friends, we are truthtellers whenever we make a prayer of confession.
We are honest about the fact that we are works in progress.
We tell the truth of our lives.
We lay it all out before God.
But this moment of prayer isn’t just about us.
In the prayer of confession we also reveal who God is, and our God is merciful.
Our God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
So let us pray, knowing that God’s truth will always mean grace for us.
Prayer of Confession:
Great Creator,
too often I speak before listening,
I speak over my neighbour,
I speak with barbed words.
Creator God,
too often I listen to society,
I listen to my friends,
I listen to the news,
but I do not listen to you.
Creator God,
too often I shout out, but do not shout your name,
I listen, but do not listen for your voice.
Release me from the sorrow I cause.
Create in me a heart like yours.
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
Family of faith,
whether or not this is your first time in church or your thousandth time,
whether or not you stuck to your Lenten goals,
whether or not you know how to speak to God or listen for God’s voice,
God listens to you.
God is kind.
God is abounding in steadfast love.
There is nothing you could do or leave undone that could keep God from loving you.
So hear and believe the good news of the gospel:
We are seen. We are heard. We are loved.
Not a day goes by that we ever walk alone.
Hosanna in the highest!
Amen.
The Peace:
May the Peace of God dwell with you:
and also with you.
Time for All:
Who here has been to a parade? What parades have you been to? Parades don’t seem to be as common as they once were, perhaps because we’d rather sit at home and watch them on TV. But this is kind of parade season. There was recently a parade in Melbourne for Moomba. Did anyone here go? I believe there were three kings who led the parade, and lots of floats. From the pictures it looks like it was a fun parade with lots of music and laughter.
I wonder if anyone can think of another parade that will soon be coming up? If fact it’s on today. Starting at 1pm there will be a kind of parade through the city streets asking Australians to show justice and kindness to all. This is a bit different from the Moomba Parade!
There is another sort of parade coming up soon. It’s the ANZAC Day march, which is Friday week. Who has been to that? The ANZAC Day march in the city is led by a representative of the King, and there is music and people marching. But this march is more serious than the Moomba parade. Do you know why?
What differences can you see between these different type of parades?
Palm Sunday remembers the story of another parade – one that took place many, many years ago. In fact more than 2000 years ago. It was a little bit like Moomba – people were having a good time, they were singing and shouting and laughing. It was led by someone the people thought might be a king – Jesus. But in other really important ways, it was more like the ANZAC Day parade. It was very serious. Instead of remembering people who had suffered and died in the past, this parade was leading up to someone suffering and dying. The people in the parade didn’t know it, but the leader of the parade – Jesus – would suffer and die in just a week. Jesus was a person who always acted for justice and kindness.
Today we live in a world a bit like this. There is great joy and fun in so many things, isn’t there? But there also are serious things happening, and people who are suffering. Today’s
Bible story reminds us to listen for God in all the noise of the world and in all the shouting and in all the silence. God is always there.
Let us pray …
Dear God,
Thank you for always being there … in both the noisy and the quiet times.
Thank you that you are always listening to us and always loving us.
Help us to love other people too.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
We Sing: “Trotting” – (TiS 244)
Trotting, trotting through Jerusalem,
Jesus sitting on a donkey’s back,
children waving branches, singing:
‘Happy is he that comes in the name of the Lord!’
Many people in Jerusalem
thought he should have come on a mighty horse
leading all the Jews to battle:
‘Happy is he that comes in the name of the Lord!’
Many people in Jerusalem
were amazed to see such a quiet man
trotting, trotting on a donkey:
‘Happy is he that comes in the name of the Lord!’
Trotting, trotting through Jerusalem,
Jesus sitting on a donkey’s back;
let us join the children singing:
‘Happy is he that comes in the name of the Lord!’
Bible Reading: Luke 19:29-40
29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 They said, “The Lord needs it.”
35 Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 Now as he was approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
Reflection:
‘Hosanna! ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ (Luke 19:38)
Many of us know the story of Palm Sunday … we have heard it before and might be used to seeing palm branches in our worship space, reminding us of the procession into Jerusalem all those years ago. A procession where the crowd sang and shouted, waved palm branches, and laid their cloaks on the ground. If you were to press your ear up close to this story, you might begin to hear the shouting – from the disciples, crowds, and even the stones. You might hear the singing, the shuffling of feet, the gentle landing of cloaks on the ground. You might hear some of the Pharisees yelling, begging Jesus to silence the uproar. Amidst all the noise, though, Jesus remains mostly silent and calm. He states that even the stones will not be silenced. Jesus doesn’t instigate this parade. Instead, just his quiet presence inspires the gathered crowd to praise God.
Clearly this journey is important. Jesus is going to Jerusalem for a reason. His disciples know something of the danger and have indicated that they don’t want Jesus to go. Yet, Jesus still goes, riding as a king, the head of the parade, with his followers. There is another parade coming into Jerusalem that day through another gate – Pontius Pilate, the governor, brings his troops from Caesarea Maritima into the city. This parade had pomp and ceremony and images of power, yet Jesus does not ride like a victorious military leader. Instead he rides a donkey with no saddle, he has no armed companions, there are no warlike symbols or royal regalia. This is a different procession because Jesus is a different kind of king.
I wonder who was in the crowd following Jesus that day? I expect there may have been fishermen and tax collectors. Some who had been healed and others who were seeking healing may have joined in. Possibly Samaritans and others considered outside the circle of God’s people. Those cloaks that were spread on the ground were not garments of rich colours, but possibly plain, ordinary, undyed cloth. While not precious in monetary terms, they were no doubt precious to the people who owned them and were willing to lay them down.
Would we have been in the crowd that day? Are we willing to leave all we have, use our precious garments to lay before Jesus? I wonder who the king is that we worship – someone who looks like us, follows the practices of our local community or the regulations of our institutional church. Do we follow a domesticated king. Or do we follow the king who performs miracles, heals the sick, loves those we believe they are unlovable, and brings the promise of eternal life?
Amen.
We Sing: “Love Unknown” – (TiS 341)
My song is love unknown, my Saviour’s love to me,
love to the loveless shown, that they might lovely be.
O who am I that for my sake my Lord should take frail flesh, and die?
Sometimes they strew his way and his sweet praises sing,
resounding all the day hosannas to their King.
Then ‘Crucify!’ is all their breath and for his death they thirst and cry.
Why, what has my Lord done? What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run, he gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries! Yet they at these themselves displease, and ‘gainst him rise.
Here may I stay and sing, no story so divine:
never was love, dear King, never was grief like thine.
This is my friend, in whose sweet praise I all my days could gladly spend.
Reflection:
And so the parade ended. The psalms lay abandoned, the donkey went back to its owner, people went home to their dinners and events began to unfold.
Jesus Christ Superstar has returned to the stage in Melbourne. Many of us have seen it over its fifty year history, or maybe even sung it. It is a powerful reminder of the torture and death of an innocent man at the hands of corrupt officials. State sanctioned torture, which happened in Jerusalem way back then, still happens around the world even now. There is a striking moment in the depiction of Palm Sunday in Jesus Christ Superstar. Watch is not – listen to the crowd and watch Jesus’ face.
Did you hear it? Did you see it?
The crowd joyfully sing ‘Hey JC, JC won’t you die for me?’ and the look that passes over Jesus’ face tells us that he has been starkly reminded of all that lies ahead of him.
I have been told that contemporary audiences who see Jesus Christ Superstar feel that they need a synopsis of the story because they don’t come into the theatre knowing this ‘greatest story ever told’, as it has been called.
We too need a reminder, because we may not be here on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and even if we are, it serves us well to spend time in the harsh reality of the Easter story before leaping to Resurrection Sunday.
Let us sing ourselves the story as we sing ‘When his time was over’. It’s all there – the final meal together, the betrayal by his friend, the phony trial by the officials and Jesus’ words from the cross. But there is something else … each verse ends with the reminder that in this death, in this life, our own new life with God begins.
Amen.
We Sing: “When his time was over” – (TiS 357)
When his time was over the palms lay where they fell.
As they ate together he told his friends farewell.
Jesus, though you cried out for some other end,
love would only choose a cross when our life began again.
Secretly they planned it, with money changing hands;
in the quiet garden a kiss betrayed their man.
Priests and elders tried him. Soldiers crowned him king.
We were in the crowd that day when our life began again.
Women wept to see him; he said, ‘Don’t weep for me.’
Many laughed and mocked him: ‘Forgive them, they don’t see.’
Jesus, please forgive me, you know what I am,
I was the one who nailed your hands when our life began again.
There was one who asked you, ‘Remember me this day.’
Jesus, when I’m dying, remember me that way;
when my life is over, be with me, my friend,
like the thief upon the cross, when our life began again.
Affirmation of Faith:
We believe that many years ago
a peaceful parade wove its way
through the streets of Jerusalem.
We believe that on that day
the people cried out,
longing and praying for a better world.
We believe that these longings
came from a place of deep hope,
and we believe that hope cannot be silenced.
So we listen for the Spirit.
We sing Hosanna.
We pay attention.
For in between the silence and the song,
in between the parade and the cross and the empty tomb,
we believe the Spirit is speaking.
Amen.
Prayer for Others (prepared by Graham & Wendy Ray)
Let us pray.
On this Palm Sunday, we are reminded that You entered Jerusalem as a poor, humble person, riding on a donkey. Your presence created uproar, questions and expectations.
Today, we are sometimes swayed by the need for the crowd’s approval, and a fear of conflict and its cost to us. May we hold firmly to Your principles of peace, justice, compassion, and solidarity with those who are poor and excluded.
We bring before You now, the needs of our world, broken by division, suspicion, hatred and war.
We pray for those in the Middle East, and the Ukraine, whose lives have been upended by war. And for those countries in Asia, suffering the effects of devastating earthquakes.
We pray for countries around the world facing economic turmoil and upheaval, as a result of unilateral trade sanctions.
At this election time, we pray for all candidates. May they always have the good of the people foremost in their policies, rather than personal gain or ego.
We bring before You the needs of our land. We pray for our endangered natural environment, and pray that we will always be mindful of what needs to be done to lessen the impact of climate change.
We pray for the indigenous people of this land, and that in the search for recognition and justice, the truth will be unifying and not divisive.
We bring before You now, the emergency service workers in our community – the police, firefighters and ambulance officers. Sustain them in their very demanding roles, and may they know how much their tireless efforts are appreciated.
We bring before You, those whom we know, in this community and our family, whose lives may be limited by sickness or grief.
In a moment of silence, we bring before You what is on our hearts this morning.
(Time of silence)
We pray for our Presbytery, Synod and Assembly, its congregations and ministers. We give thanks that they show us how Your steadfast love is known in practical ways. May they continue to inspire us to work tirelessly to make this world a better place.
As we continue with the crowd, walking with Jesus this Palm Sunday, we say together the prayer that He taught us …
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name;
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.
Amen.
We Sing: “Ride on, ride on in majesty” – (TiS 348)
Blessing:
We need your blessing more than ever,
Christ who walks before us.
As we move with you into Holy Week,
keep us with you.
Forgive our falling asleep and our denials,
our lack of understanding and our faltering faith.
Lead us on, take us with you.
Siblings in Christ,
go and know that the Spirit goes with you,
as a guide for your feet and companion for your souls.
We go in love and peace,
in the name of Christ,
Amen.
Particular thanks to Harriet Ziegler for her assistance in preparing this liturgy. I have also utilised the following resources: Fig Tree Worship and Sanctified Art (Everything in Between).