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Please note: Sunday Worship Making Connections: Kingship and service (Jesus enters Jerusalem) Leader: David Fielder All Glory, Praise and Honour Peter Baker As one of the fastest growing capitals in Europe, Cardiff is now home to over 300, 000 people, and in recent years we've hosted many large sports events from the Rugby World Cup to the FA Cup Final. Only last month to great fanfares and media attention, the city welcomed the Queen as she opened the Senedd, the new Welsh National Assembly building. And it's that theme of a city waiting for Royalty to arrive, which lies at the heart of the dramatic tension of Palm Sunday. Here's a King who rides not in powerful ceremonial style, flanked by armour-plated outriders, but on a donkey surrounded by children, with coats and branches for a red carpet. His authority appears to depend neither upon the power of the State nor the religious establishment. In fact by the end of the week Jesus will have challenged the very basis of both, overturning assumptions about what power looks like and how it should be expressed. Yet by his actions He claims the right of entry not only to the city of Jerusalem and its historic Temple, but to every city, cathedral and Church. More than that, he comes to capture hearts and minds. So as we explore these ideas this morning, let's make room for Christ, let's welcome him and embrace the surprising values of the Kingdom he brings. Make Way, Make Way PRAYER Come into our places of worship, Lord; cleanse them of all that spoils and ruins - our greed and hypocrisy ; our desire for power and influence; division and rivalry which obscure the message of grace and forgiveness . Hosanna to the King - Who comes in the name of the Lord! Come into our hearts, Lord; teach us your love and truth, show us the meaning of your life, shape us according to the values of a kingdom which is not of this world, and bring us finally to the Cross where you establish your throne. Hosanna to the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Lord Jesus, as you entered Jerusalem, so come to us, that we may be a holy people, worthy of your presence, bringing glory to your name. Amen. We say together the prayer Jesus taught us... Lord's Prayer OLD TESTAMENT READING It still waits for peace and huge tensions remain. Zechariah prophesied some 500 years after David the warrior-king first captured the city, that a day was coming when Jerusalem would welcome a new kind of King. He'd be known for his gentle character and simple lifestyle yet his peaceful reign would eventually circle the globe. Here's Zechariah looking forward to that momentous event. Zechariah 9:9-13 David Fielder Ride on, ride on in majesty INTRO: David Fielder NAR The large crowd that had come to the Passover Festival had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, so they took branches of Palm-trees and went out to meet him, they spread the palm branches in the road, and threw their cloaks in front of him, and shouted; "Praise God!", "God Bless him who comes in the name of the Lord!", "God Bless the King of Israel!" Jesus found a donkey, and rode on it, just as the scripture says; VOICE 1 Do not be afraid, city of Zion! NAR His disciples did not understand this at the time, but when Jesus had been raised to glory, they remembered that the scripture said this about him, and that they had done this for him. The people who had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from death had reported what had happened. This was why the crowd met him - because they heard that he had performed this miracle. The Pharisees then said to one another; PH 1 You see, we are not succeeding at all! The whole world is following him! Straight into the songs... You are the King of Glory Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest Message: Peter Baker Some would say that we've more than enough of these manufactured creations of the media and entertainment industry. People whose faces sell papers and whose lifestyles become the impossible aspiration for many of us - especially the young. So maybe it's no surprise that "Celebrity Worship Syndrome" affects apparently up to a third of the younger generation. In its most extreme forms it can become dangerous, even replacing normal relationships. For what children need are not just idols to excite their imagination, untouchable fantasy figures, but those who can make a real difference to their lives. Business, industry, education and politics is desperate too for leaders with moral vision, individuals who believe in something other than themselves. Men and women who by their lives inspire us to become more than we are at present, to reach for the stars not become one! But there can be a shadow side to all this hero worship, as Europe learned painfully in the 20th Century. The German playwright Bertholt Brecht commented in 1941 on the mesmeric influence of Hitler: "unhappy the land that has need of heroes". Well, if that's what happens when we put some people into positions of influence, then he's right - we need to choose our heroes carefully. In the life of Christ we're challenged by a very different definition of greatness. In following him, we're being asked to choose a good but demanding hero, an uncompromising yet gentle Saviour. In some respects the arrival of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was a public relations dream. The gossip columnists would have been reaching for their quills! It was such a dramatic entry, timed to perfection when the city was seething with restless hope. If you wanted to get the crowds on your side then this was the way to do it - choose Passover week with its echoes of national liberation from Eygptian slavery; choose Jerusalem - the city of God where once David their greatest King ruled over a mighty Empire - and choose to ride on a young donkey, one of the prophetic signs of Messiah's arrival. So into public view comes this curious procession - a man on a donkey, surrounded by excited children and adults waving tree branches, throwing clothes everywhere and shouting "Save us - here comes the King!". It doesn't take long before everyone goes wild, they recognise a liberator, a hero of the people, when they see one. John's terse account of this scene in his gospel contrasts the enthusiasm of the crowds with the confusion of Jesus' closest friends. It'll take the events of the week ahead before his disciples make the connection between this action and its meaning. By the end of that week, some of those among the crowds are not going to be cheering Jesus on at all but jeering him to his death, demanding his blood. Crowds can be notoriously fickle. I've sat among 70, 000 at the Millenium Stadium here in Cardiff watching Wales grind out another defeat in the Six Nations and within the space of the first half we've turned our heroes into zeroes by our comments! Rugby's one thing - but regime change is quite another. And it was this perhaps which fuelled the longings of the crowds. Here surely was someone who had the authority to end the evil occupation and get rid of the Romans. After all he had the power. He was the man who healed the sick, stilled the storm, raised the dead - why not turn these strengths to a revolutionary purpose? It may be obvious to us that a man who underlines his Messianic credentials by riding on the most humble of animals is hardly bidding for political office or staging a military coup! But not to them. Sometimes we see only what we want to. They saw a five star general at the head of an army not a Man of sorrows who would take up his cross and die. Regime change of the sort the crowds were after was never on Christ's agenda. He even has to tell one of his associates, Peter, later in the week when the authorities come to arrest him, to stop fighting and drop his weapons. The Church can be as mistaken as anyone else about the kind of hero Jesus really is. I've not long returned from an amazing time in South East Asia, travelling, sleeping in buffalo huts under the stars, surviving on rice, coping without washing - although that was the easy bit! And while there I experienced the teeming, noisy city of Delhi with its ten million inhabitants. Cardiff's a quiet village in comparison. My particular interest was to visit the Memorial Gardens where in 1948 one of the true heroes of the 20th Century, Gandhi, was assassinated. A museum has been built on the site and just like Gandhi's life, it's very simple. There's no clever interactive technology to play with, no audio commentary to entertain you. On one of the bare walls hangs a display case containing Gandhi's entire personal wealth. A few forks and spoons, the stick that he walked every with and those famous, rimless round glasses - that was about all! What struck me though was Gandhi's personal statement about his mission - painted like graffiti upon an exterior wall. It said " My life is my message". That's true - a remarkable life. Campaigning for human rights, struggling for the independence of India, organising protests, heading up a political party, calling for strikes and protest marches. Gandhi's life was his message, like all the greatest heroes of history. But not Jesus of Nazareth. His life was indeed a model for us all, but he saw his death as his supreme message. His mission statement reads "I have come not to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many". It's such a radical agenda which the Christian is called to live out. For the Church it means the end of all imperialism. That desire to be in charge, to matter, to have social significance. We need to be very careful when society shouts "Hosanna" and scatters palm branches in the path of the people of God. There's always a danger that when the Church finds herself sitting at the top table with the leading politicians and academics, with the sports and pop stars, she may be tempted to abandon the way of the cross. Yet the influence of the Christian voice in history has often been more significant outside the corridors of power, when the authorities have tried to silence her claims and crucify her values, just as they did with Christ. Not that we seek weakness or powerlessness. We don't have to go looking for it. It will come our way as we take up the Cross. The death of Jesus was uniquely redemptive. No one else died for sins like Him. No one else offers us forgiveness like him. And his agenda is far bigger than any of us can grasp. Some in the crowds wanted a hero who would get rid of Rome, he wanted them to have a Saviour who would defeat the power of sin and death. They were thinking in terms of national self interest, but Jesus had the world on his heart. Of course Jesus wants regime change but the revolution he seeks to begin is in the human heart - a new way of life which puts loving God and others first. He came from heaven to the cross to make that possible - the servant King who calls us now to follow Him. From Heaven You Came Helpless Babe PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION Harp Music O God our Father, on this Palm Sunday we join Christians around the world to sing your praise and embrace the values of your Kingdom. As we follow Jesus on his way to the cross, thank you that he chose the path of patient obedience to your will to bring us back to yourself and give us an example to follow. Thank you for his gentleness under provocation, his patience under affliction, and his enduring love in the face of hostility and rejection. Thank you for the cross he carried and the death he died that we might be forgiven. Thank you that in his weakness your power to overcome our self-centredness and our failure was displayed. Harp Music Father, may we who welcome the saviour on this day follow him faithfully all our days. Draw us into the fellowship of his sufferings as we respond to the needs of others. Forgive us when our words and actions enslave or oppress, when we seek for power and not to serve. May we so live for you that we are freed from the need for approval and applause. May we find ways to heal the sick, house the homeless, lift up the downtrodden, and share our faith in the Lord Jesus who did not come to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. Harp Music Today we especially remember (leave this for current and international prayer items) We pray for the lonely and the refugee, those in hospital, and those who mourn. Comfort those who have lost loved ones in war or other acts of violence. Strengthen those who in weakness and apparent insignificance struggle to build a more just world which reflects your heart of compassion and mercy. We bring to you the spiritual and political leaders of our generation, all who in society at every level have the power to influence and shape the lives of others. May they be characterised by servant hearts, moral vision and integrity. Make us all willing to lay at your feet what we have and are, so that having worshipped and served you on earth we may be among those who live with you in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Peter Baker Jesus is Lord Blessings Jesus, Lord of the palms, we thank you that you enjoyed the Hallelujah's of ordinary people, living fully in that moment of delight and accepting their praise. Jesus, Lord of the Cross, we thank you that you went into the heart of our darkness, evil and pain, along a way that was both terrible and wonderful, where your kingship became your brokenness and your dying became love's triumph. (37 secs) 2. Lord, you rode straight into the power of the enemy to suffer and die; give us the strength to follow you to the centres of opposition in this world, and the compassion which confronts power with love. (14 secs) 3. Jesus, when you rode into Jerusalem the people waved palms with shouts of acclamation. Grant that when the applause fades, we may still walk beside you even to a cross. (13 secs) 4. Lord on this Palm Sunday you were given a hero's welcome as one who was going the way of the crowd: but you had chosen the way of the Cross, and the applause was short lived. Keep bright before us the vision of our calling, that we may never be diverted from the way you have chosen for us, but may follow in the steps of you, our crucified and risen Lord, to whom be all glory, praise and honour, this day and forevermore. (30 secs) 5. Lord Jesus, we welcome your coming, pilgrim messiah, servant king, rejected saviour. You rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, symbol of humility and lowliness, exposing our dreams of pomp and glory, demonstrating the foolishness of God before the eyes of the world. You have shown us the way of humble service and true greatness. Lord Jesus help us to follow. (28 secs) 6. Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labour and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (20 secs) 7. May the love of the Lord Jesus draw us to himself. May the power of the Lord Jesus strengthen is in his service. May the joy of the Lord Jesus fill our souls. And may the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with us and remain with us for ever. (20 secs) 8. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and for ever. (10 secs) 9. Eternal God and Father, You create us by your power and redeem us by your love, guide and strengthen us by your Spirit, that we may give ourselves in love and service to one another and to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (16 secs) |