Monday, March 26, 2012

Looking Forward to April 1, 2012 -- Palm Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:
  • Mark 11:1-11
  • 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25
  • Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Sermon Title is A Fool's Errand

Early Thoughts: 60 years ago the world watched as Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. This Sunday we talk about another coronation procession, one that seems turned upside down.

The imagery and language used in Palm Sunday liturgy makes it sound like Jesus is heading for a coronation.  "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord"  "Here comes your King, riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" .  And quite possibly some of the people along the roadside truly expected that it was the road to a coronation, or at least a revolution.

But we who know the rest of the story can see different.  If Jesus understood that he was heading to glory in the same way those crying Hosanna understood it then he was on a fool's errand.  OR maybe it was the foolish hopes of those around him that are the topic of the sermon title?

To be a fool is to be willing to turn the world and its understandings upside down.  It isn't just about playing tricks on each other.  This year, on April Fool's day, come and celebrate a coronation procession turned upside down, in honour of the one who calls us to be fools.
--Gord

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