March 16, 2008, Sixth Sunday in Lent
Matthew 21:1-11; Matthew 26:14–27:66
For Palm/Passion Sunday, instead of having a sermon, we decided to let the Matthew reading speak for itself. For the first half of the service, we celebrated Palm Sunday and read Matthew 21:1-11 for the “cheers” part of the service. Then we used a script based on Matthew 26:14–27:66 taken from The New Handbook of the Christian Year by Hoyt Hickman, Don Saliers, Laurence Stookey and James White (pp. 135-141). Several members of the congregation read parts out of the script. That reading served as the “jeers” part of the service. An .mp3 of the reading can be found here.
It was a lot of scripture of being read this past Sunday in worship, but sometimes, I think it is important to let scripture speak for itself, especially during Holy Week, when there were so many events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion. And as someone who believes in the perspicuity of Scripture, this Sunday was an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work through the clear meaning of the written word to impress upon us the depth of love shown to us by the living Word.
