April 10 – “Praisin’ is fun”

Well … Palm Sunday.  That’s one of my favorite days of the church year.  That’s because it is all about praise, and praise can have so many different looks.  This year we started out by giving everyone who arrived a palm frond to represent their praise.  They were all different sizes and shapes and conditions.  Application? 

• Some long, some short – The ways we praise can look very different - But they’re all from the same tree! - as long as we’re praising the same Jesus!
• Some frayed at the end – Sometimes we come to praise and worship with a frayed attitude.  And your attitude is often the reason you “don’t get anything out of it”
• Some look dead – There are times when you come to worship and just feel … nothing.  The reasons might be varied, but the result is the same.  You just can’t wait to get home.  Your praise is dead.
• A lot more are in the box than are in people’s hands – Sometimes we come to church and never get around to picking up the praise frond.  Oh, we listen.  We smile.  We may even be quite cordial.  But we never get around to actually praising Jesus!

The day started out with a very solemn song, Pilate’s Song from Jesus Christ Superstar.  All the lights were dimmed as Jim sang it, and he had really captured everyone’s attention.  Just as he finished, I was standing in the back of the room with a megaphone.  I shouted through it, “Hosannah!” several times as I made my way to the front.  Chris said the entire section nearest to me nearly jumped out of their seats.  I would call that effective, I guess. 

As we worked through the passage in Luke 19:28-47, we came across mention of the towns Bethphage and Bethany, meaning House of Figs and House of Dates, respectively.  At this point we passed around plates full of Fig Newtons and dates for everyone to try.  There were a few turned up noses, but there were more than a few who were pleasantly surprised by the sweetness of the dates in particular.

Later on I managed to get one guy to agree to walk on my coat.  I think he might have enjoyed it a little too much, though.  He was willing to dance on it fi I wanted him to.  And no, I did not compare him to the donkey in the story that walked across the coats of the people.  He was more in the category of a king who was receiving homage. 

The commitment time was a four parter.  First, everyone brought his palm frond to the cross in the front of the room and placed it on the ground.  Then they picked up a cross made from a palm frond instead.  A little symbolism for Luke 9:23, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 

Next they had to trade the cross they had with someone else … as many times as they wanted to, introducing themselves or just saying, “Hosannah.”  Once that was accomplished we debriefed about the palm crosses. 

• Some are double-thick.  Some are long and skinny.  None look exactly the same.  Neither is the cross you carry - your individual sacrifice to God – exactly the same as the one I carry.  But they are both crosses.  It’s the same Jesus!
• What did you think about having to give up/trade off the one you picked out?  You can’t always pick the way you will serve Jesus.  That is determined by what those around you need.

The last charge was more like homework.  As a symbol of their understanding that praise is powerful … as a means for them to remember that if they don’t offer praise because of their relationship with Jesus, then the rocks and stones will … they were encouraged to find or create their own Palm Sunday symbol.  Color a picture with kids or grandkids.  Pick up a rock.  Put a handful of sand in a baggies.  Set aside a seashell. 

And remember, any of those things could suddenly break out in praise to Jesus … if you don’t. 

Psalms 69:30 says, “I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving.”

Father, thank you for fun praise days like Palm Sunday.  Please visit our Easter Sunrise and later the communion service next week.  Amen.