Hosanna! Blessed are We Who Come in Jesus' Name- April 13, 2025

It is so good to see you this morning. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ on this Palm Sunday morning. I hope that you received your palm as you were coming in today. Um, I also hope that you will note that in each of our pews, we have a friendship pad. And this is very important for us to be able to stay in touch with you so that we can let you know what's going on in the life of the church because God has a purpose for

you. uh your gifts, your talents may be expressed through the many ministries of our church. So, if you will please find that friendship pad, sign it, make sure you pass it down so the others in your row may also uh find out what your name is and welcome you as well. I hope that you also have taken a look at the back of your bulletin. On the back of your bulletin, you will see uh many of the flyers of the events taking place here at First Presbyterian Church. And I would like to personally invite you to come and join us as we

celebrate this Holy Week. Now, this Holy Week begins today with Palm Sunday and it is bracketed by our celebration of Easter next Sunday. But you will find out holy means very different. This week is totally different than any other week of the year. So throughout this week, we are going to be having experiences of developing our faith and understanding as to what God is doing and has done and is going to be doing in your life and in mine. So I hope that you will please plan to come back and join us on Monday,

Thursday. We have a special communion service at 700 pm. And then Good Friday, we will have our chapel open between 12:00 and 3:00. If you would like to come and spend some time with God in prayer, we will have some prayer sheets that can guide you in your prayer life. Or if you just want to come and talk to God, you're more than welcome to do so. And then the following Sunday, of course, next Sunday is Easter and we will have Orlando Brass here with us as well as our wonderful choir and bell choir and we invite you to come and join

us in that great celebration as well. Well, I would like to also thank Hope Canrell who is serving as our liturgist this morning. You'll be seeing her in just a few moments. I would like for you to also know that as as soon as I finish with our opening prayer, our choir will process with our opening hymn. As they process in, the ushers will come to each of your pews and you are welcome to come and follow the choir and follow with your palm branches waving and lay them at the foot of the cross up here. So, if

you are able and wish to do. So, please feel free to follow the choir when your pew row is dismissed. Will you please join me now with our opening prayer? Let us pray. Oh, holy God, we proclaim hosana with all the people who welcomed you into Jerusalem. Blessed is Jesus who comes in God's name. May joy fill our hearts this Palm Sunday as together we shout our hosanas. [Music] Glory to God. [Music] Glory. Our praise and praise. [Music] Glory Lord and God to our [Music] children to [Music] the hymn of

praise to Now I exalt all glory and honor to the redee. to children. [Music] in the highest good and gracious. Glor to the children. [Music] After that processional, all I can say is hosana. How beautiful. Uh would you please uh join me for the prayer of confession begin? And you can all sit down please. Sorry. We were there, oh Lord. We were right there with them, praising you and spreading out before you, garments and palm branches. We were there with them and for the same reason. We want you to

be everything we want you to be. We want you to be the answer to our every question, the solution to our every problem, the warrior against our very enemies. We praise you because we convince ourselves you are everything we want you to be. Like the crowd, we discovered that you had your own ideas about how we are to conduct our lives. We leave you and go in search of someone who should give us what we want. Forgive us for our selfishness. Show us your way, your truth, and your mission. Grant us wisdom and courage to follow you this

Palm Sunday and every day. This we pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen. My friends, our Lord saw us there shouting hosana, screaming because we wanted God to be what we want God to be. And yet our Lord loves us, understands our frailties, and understands most of all our sinfulness. That is why God so loved all of us that that he sent his only son our lord to pay for those sins. So it is always my privilege at this point in our service to remind us that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Thanks be to God. And all

God's people said thanks be to God. [Music] Glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost [Music] Please be seated. Our first reading this morning is from Psalms 118 verses 1 and two. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love forever. Let Israel say his love endures forever. Our second reading is from Psalm 118 19- 29. Open for me the gates of the righteous. I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. I will give you thanks for you

answered me. You have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this and it's marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day. Let us rejoice today and be glad. Lord save us. Lord grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God and he has made his light shine upon us. With bows in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will praise

you. You are my God and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. reading of his holy word. Holy, holy Lord Holy, holy Lord God of host, Lord [Music] Godest victory. There was a man sitting by the road. He was blind. He could not see. Then the master of the earth and sky touched his eyes and he looked around the [Music] hostord by the pool. 38 years with his infirmity. Then the Lord troubled the water. The man rose and he holyord of host of [Music] hostord in the

highest victory he will always see Always sing my praise. Singana in the highest. [Music] Singana in [Music] the blind man in the lame man. I was lost in sin. Then I opened up my heart. One day I'll let the shout holy [Music] holyordest Jesus. Holy Lord Jesus. Holy Lord Jesus. Holy Lord Jesus. Holy Lord Jesus. [Music] Now, how can you stay seated with that? We Presbyterians, we're going to have to get moving. Amen. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. We are blessed. We have been called to this place to glorify God with our

worship. And part of that means that we have been invited to come into Almighty God's presence to offer our prayers together. Certainly, we need to always begin with prayers of thanksgiving for our Lord is good and has showered us with many blessings. So, we always need to thank God for every one of those. And then when we are finished with that, we can begin with our prayers of request, our prayers of fear and concern, our prayers for one another, our prayers for the world. What a privilege it is that

we may join in prayer together as the people of God. So I invite you to please lift up the prayers of your heart that you brought with you today as well as the prayers that you will hear in this prayer of the people of God. Will you please join me? Let us pray. Lord God, we do thank you on this Palm Sunday as we dare to approach your throne, knowing full well that the power of your Holy Spirit has already searched our hearts and our minds and has been praying on our behalf even when we don't know how to pray or what to pray

for. Lord God, you know each of us here. You know us. You made us. You love us and you have given your life for us. We sit before you in awe and wonder and gratitude fills our hearts. Lord, we do lift up to you the prayers that every one of us brought with us this morning. Prayers of thanksgiving, thanking you for the life that you have given to us, for the calling that you have invited each of us to give you our lives that we might be considered your children. Lord God, we also pray that we will

faithfully use the gifts, the talents, the resources that you have bestowed upon us to serve you and to change the world in our lifetime that you have given to us. Lord, we do pray for those who are a part of this community and in our community who need your prayers or need our prayers, need your healing touch. Lord, we do pray for those who are sick. We pray that you will touch their bodies and help them to heal and get well. We pray for those who are convilelesing and getting better from procedures. Lord, be with them. Give

them patience. Help them to get stronger every single day. We do pray Lord for those who need your healing touch whether it is in body or mind or spirit or relationship or even in their relationship with you spiritually. We pray Lord for those who are in positions that make decisions on behalf of others. May they listen to your still small voice guiding them that we might care for the least of these as we would do unto you. Lord, be with those who are in positions of power. We pray for the Congress of this United States, our

president, for leaders all around the world that they might do as you would have them lead. that they might be able to bring your love to their people. Dear God, we also pray that every one of us will take seriously the opportunities that we have to care for your people. We thank you for all of this, dear Lord, and we pray all of this this Palm Sunday in your holy name. For you are the one who taught us all how to pray by saying, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth

as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. We are so privileged to be a part of this family of faith as we have come together to do the Lord's work. At this time, I would like to invite I believe it's Barry Long who is going to be sharing with us. There you are, Barry. a little bit about the mission committee's

work and ways that you can get involved as well. Hosanna Hosanna, it is great to be here to talk about mission on Palm Sunday where Christ taught us how to do mission, how to serve others and help others. What better day where we're celebrating where Christful resurrection could be said that was the very first mission. Our churches to take a little time each month to tell you about some of our mission partners and our focus today is forward pass. They are a wonderful organization. They're based in Leburg

and they deal with atrisisk and homeless youth from 18 to 23 and people who have aged out of theyuc. Some of you may have seen the cottages on the road. This is area north of Methodist Church where they built 10 tiny homes, 600 square and two children. They have a structure to follow. We have to agree to the principles of the system to stay in very very wellc children way of Another example mission. Thank you for your support mission. I got a couple other jobs up here. Elizabeth gave me one pick up on your way out and bring it

in for April and also in your bulletins or possibly in your offering envelopes. There's a card here next week, but you can also do it today. This helps with hunger and disaster. Thank you again for your support. Thank you, Barry. How we have so much opportunity to build what God have us build here in this place and this time. It is true that the world and all it contains belongs to God. And it is our privilege this day to choose what of God's blessings we have received that we choose to return to God's service this

day. So at this time I invite our ushers to please come forward for the collection of our tithes and our offering. And I believe with perfect faith in the [Music] coming I will wait for every day. We are not ashamed. We are not afraid. We watch for his returning Messiah our salvation. We proclaim blessed he comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At the coming of the king, we will sing. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. [Music] And I believe the son of man, Jesus, our

Messiah, is the lamb of God who broke the curse and made a living way. With the trumpet blast, he will come again. The lion of the tribe of Judah, Jerusalem will sing. Blessed is he. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At the coming of the king we will sing. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Lion of Judah, son of man, king of kings, the great I am. Blessed is he. Come take your throne forever. Lion of Judah, son of man, king of

kings, the great I am. Blessed is he come take your throne forever. Blessed is he. [Music] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord at the coming of the king. Hosana you will sing. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. [Applause] [Music] Bless him. Praise him. Father, [Music] Will you please join me in a prayer of dedication? Let us pray. Lord God, we do thank you for the privilege of being

able to participate in what you are building here through this church and through our denomination. We pray Lord that we will all be faithful in our dedication. And we pray that these the giving of our tithes and our offerings that these will be blessed by you and multiplied that they might serve you in all the ways that you would have us serve your people in this life. We thank you for all of this and we pray this in Jesus holy name. Amen. Please be seated. Our gospel lesson today is taken from

the gospel according to John. And this being Palm Sunday, I must point out that the story of Jesus triumphal entry as it has become known into Jerusalem is told in many different ways. But this today I'm going to share with you what John has to say about that very eventful day. Hear now the word of the Lord. The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosana. Blessed is he who comes in the

name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel." Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. As it is written, "Do not be afraid, daughter Zion. See, your king is coming seated on a donkekeyy's colt. At first, his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. This ends our reading of God's holy word. May we be encouraged and may God's Holy Spirit add to our understanding and application of its

truth in each of our lives. Will you join me in a prayer of preparation? Let us pray. Lord God, we do thank you for the opportunity to worship you, for the privilege to hear these words read aloud once again. And now, Lord, I do pray that the words of my mouth, and that the meditations of all of our hearts and our minds will be acceptable in your sight. for you are our strength and our redeemer. And it is in Christ's name that we pray these things. Amen. And amen. Well, there was a little boy that

was sick on Palm Sunday. So, he had to stay home from church and his mother stayed with him. And dad went to church. When dad came home, he brought with him the palm branch that he had gotten in the service and he gave it to his son and his son asked, "Dad, why why do you have a palm branch from church?" And his father said, "Well, you see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him. So, we got palm branches today at church. The little boy replied, "Ah, shucks. The one Sunday I miss is the

Sunday that Jesus showed up. Jesus showed up then and before. And in fact, Jesus is here right now. Hosana, the crowd shouted. In fact, around the world, I have to remind us in all churches, Christian churches everywhere, the people are once again proclaiming, "Hosana! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Well, this Palm Sunday, as every Palm Sunday, is the beginning of what is known as Holy Week. Holy, as I said before, means different than there is no other week like this week. Out of the

entire 52 weeks of the year, there is nothing like what we are entering into beginning today with Palm Sunday. And this will be a week when God is working in our lives once again, teaching us, reminding us that I am here. I am a part of your life. I am a part of the ministry that I have called you to do and I will not leave you. So as we move through this week when we commemorate Jesus final days on this earth, we are reminded that this was just the beginning. I'm hoping that you will come back here

7 pm on Thursday as we will once again visit the last words of Jesus before his crucifixion. We will share in the the Lord's supper, the sader meal that Jesus used and refashioned for our understanding of what God is doing and was doing in this world, followed by Good Friday, a day of contemplation of what this world would be like without Jesus in it, followed by our wonderful celebration next Sunday, Easter Sunday, when we will celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Think about what we Christians

are proclaiming during this Holy Week. Well, we begin with hosana. Now, some people get hosana and hallelujah mixed up or they think, well, isn't it basically the same thing? The people shouted hosana. They shouted hallelujah. But there's a big difference. Hosanna means save us. They were reaching out to Jesus who they hoped and prayed would be the Messiah who had would come to save them. Save them from the government. Save them from the political structure that was suffocating them. Save them that they might return to a prosperous

life as the chosen people. But that was followed by Jesus crucifixion and then the resurrection when they shouted [Music] hallelujah Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah means praise God. So we begin holy week with save us and end with praise God. Now I have to point out once again as we always have to be reminded who is the actor in both of these these scenarios. God the people cried out hosana save us Lord. And in the end, praise God for bringing us salvation, for bringing us forgiveness, for

bringing us hope and joy and a purpose and a future. Hosana. Hallelujah. I remember as a child couldn't wait to get to church on Palm Sunday so that I could get my palm branch so that I could wave it and shout hosana. I really did not understand what I was saying. But neither did the people who were shouting hosana as Jesus was entering into Jerusalem. They thought Aha, Jesus. He's coming. He is the Messiah. He is the new king who will take over and restore order. But Jesus didn't come into town on a a beautiful

stallion as you would expect a king to ride into the city with his entourage of soldiers. Jesus found a donkey. And sitting on the donkey, he rode into Jerusalem. A bit confusing, I would guess, because for us in this day, we didn't don't truly understand what that meant. But one who would ride in on a donkey was usually a leader from another c country, a surrounding country who is coming to bring peace, who is coming to bring an offering of peace and working together. Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem, the capital city, not on a

stallion, but on a donkey. a beast of burden to bring peace to the people. Holy Week, what we read this morning laid out very carefully was Jesus was coming. They heard he was coming. They had heard about the miracles that Jesus had performed. He had just raised a man from the dead. Lazarus, I believe his name was, he can do anything. He must be the Messiah. Now, in a crowd, for those of us who have ever been in a crowd, if you have gone to Disney World, you have been in a crowd, especially when the parade

is about to begin. All the people gather along the street to to shout and welcome and watch the parade. That, my friends, is a crowd. And you would find in that crowd that there are many kinds of people with many different motivations for being there. It was no different, I submit to you, than the crowd that gathered to welcome Jesus, who they heard was coming into Jerusalem. And I'd like for us to take a look at who who was in that crowd because I would like to posit to you this could be an understanding of

who is in the crowd that we have in our congregation, in our community, in our clubs, in our family, anywhere people gather. We have a variety of motivations and people coming together. Let's let's begin with looking at probably one of the most most misunderstood but definitely would have been a part of the crowd and not even mentioned in our scripture and that is the Roman soldiers who would have been there to keep order if as they heard the shouting as they heard that Jesus was coming people tearing off

branches running shouting save us you got to know that those Roman soldiers were on alert and following them to see what was going on, to see what kind of order they needed to keep. They didn't understand. They simply were watching. They were observers. I think about observers that come to join us at times. They hear that, you know, First Presbyterian Church, they they've got great music and and now and then they have really good messages and they do things and they have great music and they have wonderful

mission. Let's go find out what's going on at First Presbyterian Church. Now my friends, just as with the Roman soldiers, there are those times when we need to help people understand what they are experiencing. The observers, the faithful could have shared with those Roman soldiers who Jesus was and why this was so special and why they were shouting hosana and why they were laying down their palm branches. We too need to look for the strangers among us who are curious about why we gather and what we

are doing. Now of course we know others in the crowd would have been the Pharisees. Now the Pharisees were the leaders in the church. For them they felt that their whole existence was to make sure that the faith was being expressed appropriately appropri appropriately according to the Torah. And this Jesus fellow, he was kind of an outlier. He had a new way of living out the faith. In fact, we heard that he just raised somebody from the dead and this has gotten a whole bunch of press and people are all excited about that.

And I am not so sure that he is doing things according to the law. So the Pharisees would have been out there to make sure that things were done as they should be done. I think of people who come to church who have perhaps always gone to church and on the way home they spend the next hour or two or maybe all of lunch criticizing how the church how the service was handled. I didn't like the way they did the music that time. Why did they order the service like that's not the way it's supposed to be done and

criticizing and criticizing and criticizing? How can we reach out to people like that with love, welcoming them back, listening to them and sharing with them that we get together because God has called us together. In that same crowd, we have the soldiers, we have the phes. But then we have just the general crowd. The general crowd that wants to be a part of something that is really exciting. I want to go because my friends are there. I want to go because I want to see see and be seen. The way I

live my life Monday through Saturday, it's my business. But on Sunday, you're going to find me in church. the crowd, the general crowd, they haven't gotten it yet. They haven't realized what Jesus was teaching, what Jesus was bringing to this world. the opportunities for the crowd, my friends, by loving them, inviting them, caring for them, making sure that they hear that Jesus loves them as well and came and died for them as well. And of course, the the final group was the disciples of Jesus. Now this

group my friends I hope is most of us here that we are the ones who have humbled ourselves really realizing that we can't live this life without God in our life. Those of us who have given our life over to Jesus saying Lord I am a sinner. Thank you. Thank you for paying for my sins. Guide me, shape me, help me to be your faithful disciple. the disciples who were walking alongside of Jesus into Jerusalem, I have to say, not really understanding what was about to happen, not realizing how this was a

fulfillment of their holy scripture, not truly understanding how their lives were going to be transformed by the events that were just about to take place. As our scripture this morning said, not until after the crucifixion and the resurrection did they begin to understand begin. It's it's a start. We too, we disciples who have said, "Lord, I love you. Thank you for forgiving me of my sin. Thank you for including me as your in your family. Now continue to shape me, help me to be better equipped to be called your

disciple in this world. We like the disciples who are walking right next to Jesus don't always have a clue of what Jesus is truly doing in our life. But in faith we walk alongside knowing that by the power of God's Holy Spirit our lives too will be transformed. That someday we will see in that mirror face to face with God and understand what God was doing in each of our lives. This Palm Sunday, we shout hosana, knowing full well that this is just the beginning. Will you join me in a prayer? Lord God, we do thank you

for everything that you are doing in our life. We thank you for Jesus faithfulness. We thank you for your love shown in so many ways. And we pray that we too will be faithful in living out our lives that we may be faithful as well. Be with us this Holy Week. continue to transform our lives as we sh seek to share your love each and every single day. For we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. [Music] Hosana. All Children to Jesus children of [Music] The windord. Glorana in the highest for Christ is our

Hallelujah. [Music] My friends, as we leave this place, let us be filled with hope. Let us be filled with anticipation of what God is going to do in our life, the rest of today and throughout this week as we seek to serve the creator of this universe who loves you with a neverending love. Let us shout hosana and let us end with hallelujah. Let us go now in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. [Music] [Music]