In the Lord's Service at MLC on Sunday

Call to Worship: Prayer bell

Choir: No Tramp of Soldiers' Marching Feet, Author: Rt. Rev. Timothy Dudley-Smith, OBE, b. 1926; Tune: Kingsfold;

Hosanna, Hosanna, Author: Stan Pethel, b. 1950

The Collect/Prayer of the Day

Almighty God, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take our flesh upon him, and to suffer death on the cross. Grant that we may share in his obedience to your will, and in the glorious victory of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lessons

Luke 19:28-40 (Procession with Palms); Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 26:30-27:54

Palm Sunday observances began in Jerusalem in the 4th century. On this day the faithful assembled at the Mount of Olives and processed from there into the city, carrying palms and branches, singing as they went. The bishop rode in their midst, sitting on a donkey. By the 6th century services including the palm procession were celebrated throughout the Church.

The palms are symbols of love and praise, of loyalty and adoration of Jesus Christ. After our worship today, they are taken home and placed behind a Christian painting or crucifix, there to dry and yellow with the passing year. By next Transfiguration Sunday, they will be returned to the Church, burned, and their ashes used for marking a cross on the foreheads of the penitent on Ash Wednesday.

This is a forceful reminder of how our love and faithfulness wither and die because of our sins, and can be renewed only by God's grace, his forgiveness, and his continual stirring of God's people to repentance and renewal of faith.

With our celebration of Palm Sunday, we enter Holy Week.

Hymns

Processional hymn: Prepare the Way, O Zion *

Hymn of the Day: LSB 443, Hosanna, Loud Hosanna

Offertory hymn: LSB 442, All Glory, Laud, and Honor

Communion hymns: LSB 430, My Song Is Love Unknown; LSB 440, Jesus, I Will Ponder Now; LSB 450, O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

The Passion of Our Lord: LSB 436, Go to Dark Gethsemane

Closing hymn: LSB 441, Ride On, Ride On, In Majesty

The Liturgical color for Lent is purple.

* printed in bulletin with permission