Palm Sunday without Palms

13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” John 12: 13

Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem...scarcely a week before He would be crucified and put to death as a criminal.  This is what we celebrate today...that moment during His earthly stay when He entered the Holy City of God and was lauded as hero.  He was welcome into the city as the rescuer, the one who would deliver Israel from its cruel captor, the Roman Empire.  Hence the branches of palm trees and the shouts of Hosanna along with the verse from Psalm 118 that proclaimed Him as the One Who Comes in the Name of the Lord!

Ever since I remember, Palm Sunday has always been a landmark of the year.  As a little girl and young adult in Panama, I reserved my finest wear for this day.  The memories of the exhilaration of the triumphant music at church and the scent of freshly cut magnolias covering the streets of my hometown along the procession that reenacted the scene of Jesus riding on the donkey are forever imprinted in my mind.  As a grown up, spending every Palm Sunday at New Bedford Church, teaching kids in Junior Church how to make palm branches out of construction paper, making crosses out of the palm branches we received as we entered the sanctuary, listening to "All Glory, Laud and Honor" and rejoicing in the Lord Our Savior surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ...constituted a never before questioned reality which today crumbles at the sight of a pandemic that confines us to our homes, disturbing the normal accord of the holiest of weeks in the year...

Stuck on a corner of the world that does not see the palm tree grow, we are without palm branches today.  But we are not without hope...because "beneath the cross of Jesus I DO find a place to stand" and,

I take, O cross, thy shadow

For my abiding place;

I ask no other sunshine than

The sunshine of His face;

Content to let the world go by,

To know no gain nor loss,

My sinful self my only shame,

My glory all the cross.

Let's sign today, as the church at home, a song that reveals that we are triumphant, indeed.  Let's remember that we still shout Hosanna! because regardless of today's circumstances, we still have Our King, "Who in the Lord's name comest, the King and Blessed One!"  And He deserves All Glory, Loud and Honor today and for eternity.  Let's lift up our palms, the palms of our hands, and sing to Him a song of Victory, from wherever we are... let's allow Him to re enter our hearts! Have a blessed Palm Sunday!

1. All Glory, Laud and Honor
2. 1. All glory, laud, and honor
   To thee, Redeemer, King,
   To whom the lips of children
   Made sweet hosannas ring.
   Thou art the King of Israel,
   Thou David’s royal Son,
   Who in the Lord’s name comest,
   The King and Blessed One.
3. 2. The company of angels
   Are praising thee on high,
   And mortal men and all things
   Created make reply.
   The people of the Hebrews
   With palms before thee went;
   Our praise and love and anthems
   Before thee we present.
4. 3. To thee, before thy passion,
   They sang their hymns of praise;
   To thee, now high exalted,
   Our melody we raise.
   Thou didst accept their praises;
   Accept the love we bring,
   Who in all good delightest,
   Thou good and gracious King.

Text: Theodulph of Orleans, ca. 760–821

Music: Melchior Teschner, 1584–1635