Things changed quickly for Jesus. On Sunday he enters Jerusalem in triumph. On Friday he leaves the city carrying his cross. All four gospels tell the story of his passion. Each gospel differs from every other in telling this story, yet all are the same. Jesus stakes his claim.  He confronts the powers. He throws himself upon the wheel of history to be crushed by it, but he does so only after placing his life absolutely in the hands of the Father. Jesus believes  God can raise the dead. But before he conquers death to reign in life he must suffer and die. Before there can be a resurrection, there must be a crucifixion. Before he can give us new life, he must enter fully into our old life and death. “He died for our sins.”

The passion hymn declares:

Ride on! Ride on in majesty!
Your last and fiercest strife is nigh.
The Father on his sapphire throne 
Awaits his own anointed Son.

Ride on! Ride on in majesty! 
Hear all the tribes hosanna cry; 
O Savior meek, your road pursue, 
with palms and scattered garments strewed.

Ride on! Ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die;
Bow your meek head to mortal pain,
Then take, O God, your power and reign!

In the era of the Pandemic, things can change quickly for us, too. Today, the virus is already at work in some, even though they do not know it. Things have not been too bad in Winston-Salem. We are not yet truly afraid. We think we have done all the right things to protective ourselves and stem the tide. I hope and pray so. Yet, things can change in a heartbeat, in the blink of an eye, in the time it takes to hear another sneeze.

Stay centered. Ask God for a strong faith. Pray for your neighbor. Pray for those who serve us, all doctors, nurses, medical workers, first responders, for grocery clerks and cashiers, and postal employees, and sanitation workers, and delivery people.

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR HOLY WEEK AND EASTER

Use the resources of this website to for Holy Week.

Download the PDF of “Readings for Holy Week” here.

Attend the Palm Sunday and Easter Services at Home Church at 10:00 a.m. each Sunday by tuning in to WSJS 600 AM, or by streaming it here.

The Home Church nightly readings and Maundy Thursday communion can be streamed at 7:00 p.m. from the same link.

The Easter Sunrise Service can be streamed here, or by tuning in to WSJS 600 AM at 5:55 A.M. on Easter Sunday.

There is a video version of Pastor Green’s Palm Sunday Meditation online here.