My Favorite Worship

Really it is hard to pick a favorite worship service of the year, but easily in the top 5 of my all time most meaningful worship services is Palm Sunday at Bethlehem.  And it doesn't even involve a live donkey!

My History with Palm Sunday
In years past I was always ambivalent to Palm Sunday.

As a young child I remember making palm leaves from green construction paper and going around to the various Sunday School classes singing "Hosanna, Hosanna Christ the Lord be King" and waving this big green palm branch only to then go into worship and get a little dinky spear shaped leaf that was perfect for tickling (or stabbing) my siblings with from 2 feet away.

In high school I remember the live donkey that one year and one year only came into the sanctuary where it then took a big donkey poo near the altar.  After that the donkey remained outside.

In college and seminary Palm Sunday meant having a great outdoor festive party at the beginning of worship to only come inside to be bored by a 20 plus minute long gospel reading, that even read in a dramatic style is too long.  There was also the year a pastor rode a hobby horse into the sanctuary on Palm Sunday, but that is a different story.

So last year, when approaching my first Holy Week as a pastor, I was hesitant about Palm Sunday because I remember the joy I had as a child, but have seen the ways congregations have tried to make it "entertaining" and have faced the boredom that can happen with such a long gospel when you celebrate Passion Sunday instead.

The catalyst for doing something different was a bit of luck when between a new pastor, a new Sunday School coordinator and a small Sunday school with overworked moms, decided not to do a children's pageant on Christmas (Praise Jesus!).  One thought was the kids could do the dramatic reading on Palm Sunday instead, something that adults at Bethlehem had been leading for years.  But the reading, which is often too long for adults, is way too long for kids.  So with some creative thinking between the Sunday School coordinator and myself, we thought, what if we restructure the worship service so we walk with Jesus during the passion?   And that is exactly what we've done these past two years now.

Basic Structure of the Worship 
We started outside with some announcements and palms.

Worship itself began with the call and response of:
Blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord
Hosanna in the Highest

The congregation then sang that song that I learned as a young child "Hosanna, Hosanna Christ the Lord be King" and then the children and youth of Bethlehem take over.  We heard of Jesus's entry into Jerusalem, join together for the prayer of the day, then with All Glory, Laud and Honor processed into the sanctuary with some of the youngest kids leading us carrying the cross, ribbon poles and the bible.

The children and youth then told us of Mary anointing Jesus' feet with perfume and Jesus announcing that we will always have the poor but we will not always have him with us.  So in response, we, like Mary, gave our offering to God.

Then we heard of Jesus' last supper, so we then celebrated the meal which Jesus instituted.

Afterwards the reading of the gospel continued with Peter's denial foretold and Jesus praying in Gethsemane so we responded by offering up our prayers to God.

The gospel then tells of Jesus' betrayal and arrest and how Peter sat in the courtyard and denied knowing Jesus 3 times.  We as a congregation responded by admitting our faith using the Apostle's creed.

And then as the reading unfolded with Jesus' trial, his crucifixion, his death and his burial, we responded to each part with a verse from Were You There?  Ending with a brief moment of silence and the simple words "depart in peace".

Why This is My Favorite Worship
I am amazed at the comments that are given about this service .  It is wonderful to have the kids lead us in worship, especially when in that famous Palm Sunday hymn of All Glory, Laud and Honor we sing the words "from whom the lips of children, the sweet hosannas sing."  This worship has been so meaningful as we walk with Jesus because it reminds us that our prayers, confession, offering and communion are things that Jesus taught us or commanded us to do.  And it is wonderful to hear the full passion but to give the congregation opportunity to reflect and respond after each section of the story.

I personally love this service because it allows the kids to be in charge.  Not only were they the readers but they were the greets, ushers, and communion assistants as well, they have such a sense of pride about not just assisting in worship (which happens most weeks) but as a group being in charge of it.  This worship service also allows them to lead us in pure, plain scripture.  So many Christmas pageants end up being about what the symbols on the tree mean and in turn scripture is not read, in some cases not even referred to.  And as a dramatic reading there were no costumes, no lines to memorize, no acting to rehearse, and since most of the kids just stand up in their pew to read their lines, less chance of stage fright.  Just scripture, which we have read over a few times together so that the kids can hear the whole story and practice the harder words like prophecy, Golgotha, Nazareth or blasphemy.

Due to this being a small congregation all the kids are able to participate without having to try and give 80 different kids speaking parts.  The youngest were part of the crowd with a few individual lines and I'll admit to purposely having the haunting lines of  "He must be calling for Elijah" and "Truly this man was the son of God" said by two of our youngest members.  The older kids had larger parts such as Pilate, Judas or Peter.  One high school student has even been willing to be the narrator for the entire worship the last two years, but even that portion could be broken by section to multiple kids if need be.  Jesus has been played by my husband, Bob, the last two years, as no other child has volunteered to play such a large part (and in the words of the Sunday School kids last year "Bob has a beard so he should be Jesus.")  I'm hoping that by next year one of the high school students will be willing to step up and read Jesus' lines.

Truly I love this worship and it is amazing to see the impact the entire congregation from all generations.