MICAH 6.8

		April 10, 2022 A Liturgy For Meditation and Worship
		Palm branches throughout the Scriptures are a symbol and expression of victory and the overcoming of oppression with holy justice. The word Hosanna, likewise, means help us or save us. It is a call for God to wrought victory over evil and suffering. CENTERING IN PREPARATION Humble and riding on a donkey, we greet you; Acclaimed by crowds and caroled by children, we cheer you; moving from the peace of the countryside to the corridors of power, We salute you: O Christ our Redeeming One. You are giving the beast of burden a new dignity; you are giving majesty a new face; you are giving those who long for redemption A new song to sing. With them, with heart and voice, we shout: Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of our God! —adapted from Common Order, Church of Scotland, 1994. OPENING WORDS Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your Redeemer comes to you; triumphant and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. —Zechariah 9:9 SONG "All Glory, Laud and Honor" (written by Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans in about 820 and translated into English by John Mason Neale in 1854) (Click Here For Music) All glory, laud, and honor to you, Redeemer, King, to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring. You are the King of Israel and David's royal Son, now in the Lord's name coming, The company of angels is praising you on high; and we with all creation in chorus make reply. The people of the Hebrews with palms before you went; our praise and prayer and anthems before you we present. To you before your passion they sang their hymns of praise; to you, now high exalted, our melody we raise. As you received their praises, accept the prayers we bring, for you delight in goodness, O good and gracious King! PRAYER O God, most merciful, in the beginning you created us, and through your Only-Begotten and Beloved-One you created us anew. Work in us now, y the power and presence of your Sacred Spirit, both to will and to do what pleases you. Since we your human family are broken and need your help. Grant us your steadfast love, ever faithful, and the blessing you are always working in our world. In whatever work we engage we may do all to your honor and glory. For you are greatly to be praised. Amen. (adapted from St. Anselm, 11th century) GLORIA Blessed is the Chosen-One of God, Beloved and Anointed, the Only-Begotten One, who comes in the name of God Most High! Peace be in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! —Luke 19.38 PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION Merciful God, as we enter Holy week, turn our hearts again to Jerusalem, and to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Stir up within us the gift of faith that we may not only praise you with our lips, but may follow the Christ in the way of justice and peace. For it was by our brokenness your Anointed and Beloved One was broken. And, it is by such brokenness we are being healed. All to your praise and glory. Hosanna in the Highest! READING I —Psalm 118, selected verses I thank you, O God, for your goodness! Your love is everlasting! Let Israel say it: “Your love is everlasting!” Let the House of Aaron say it: “Your love is everlasting!” Let those who revere YHWH say it: “Your love is everlasting!” In anguish, I cried to you, O God, and you answered me with freedom. God is my strength and my song; God has become my salvation! Raise shouts of joy and victory in the tents of the upright: God’s right hand is doing mighty acts! God’s right hand is winning; God’s right hand is doing mighty acts! No, I will not die— I will live to proclaim the deeds of the Holy God; This is the day that our Creator has made— let us celebrate with joy! Please, O Redeeming-One, please save us! Please, O Sanctifying-One give us prosperity now! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the God of Hosts, Most High we bless you from your temple! The Holy, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One is God and God has enlightened us. Join the festal procession! with palm fronds in hand, go up to the horns of the altar! You are my God, and I thank you; you are my God, and I exalt you. thank you for hearing me, for saving me. Thank you, O God, for your goodness! Your love is everlasting! —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. READING II —Luke 19. 29-40 Approaching Bethphage and Bethany, near what is called the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of the disciples with these instructions: “Go into the village ahead of you. Upon entering it, you’ll find a tethered colt that no one has yet ridden. Untie it and lead it back. If anyone should ask you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Rabbi needs it.’ ” They departed on their errand and found things just as Jesus had said. As they untied the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you doing that?” They explained that the Rabbi needed it. Then the disciples led the animal to Jesus and, laying their cloaks on it, helped him mount. People spread their cloaks on the roadway as Jesus rode along. As they reached the descent from the Mount of Olives, the entire crowd of disciples joined them and began to rejoice and praise God loudly for the display of power they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of our  God! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” Jesus replied, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the very stones would cry out!” —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. READING III —John 12. 12-16 The next day, the great crowd that had come for the Passover feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, so they got palm branches and went out to meet him. They shouted joyfully, “Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of our God— the ruler of Israel!” Jesus rode in sitting upon a donkey, in accord with scripture: “Fear not, O people of Zion! Your ruler comes to you sitting on a donkey’s colt.” At the time, the disciples didn’t understand all this, but after Jesus was glorified they recalled that the people had done to him precisely what had been written about him. PRAYER A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road. —Matthew 21:8 This blessing can be heard coming from a long way off. This blessing is making its steady way up the road toward you. This blessing blooms in the throats of women, springs from the hearts of men, tumbles out of the mouths of children. This blessing is stitched into the seams of the cloaks that line the road, etched into the branches that trace the path, echoes in the breathing of the willing colt, the click of the donkey’s hoof against the stones. Something is rising beneath this blessing. Something will try to drown it out. But this blessing cannot be turned back, cannot be made to still its voice, cannot cease to sing its praise of the One who comes along the way it makes. —Richardson, Jan. Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. Wanton Gospeller Press. INVITATION TO HEALING AND RECONCILIATION We know our brokenness and failures, O God. They lay heavy upon our heart or hearts, and we grieve the pain we see in the face of others resulting from our choices. Grant, O Great and Holy Healing-One that we may become whole and in wellness serve the purpose of your will. PRAYER FOR HEALING AND RECONCILIATION Jesus, faithful servant of God, sometimes it is difficult for us to know how to be faithful: Help us discern your will and follow you with gladness. Jesus, faithful servant of God, in this most holy of weeks, we see the brokenness of our world: Help us be people who faithfully bring forth justice. Jesus, faithful servant of God, we know the world longs for healing: Help us be people of hope and bearers of light. Jesus, faithful servant of God, we want to be the people you long for us to be: Help us walk in your way of love. —Church Publishing. Daily Prayer for All Seasons. Church Publishing Incorporated. WORDS OF ASSURANCE Now to the gate of my Jerusalem, The seething holy city of my heart, The Saviour comes. But will I welcome him? Oh crowds of easy feelings make a start; They raise their hands, get caught up in the singing, And think the battle won. Too soon they’ll find The challenge, the reversal he is bringing Changes their tune. I know what lies behind The surface flourish that so quickly fades; Self-interest, and fearful guardedness, The hardness of the heart, its barricades, And at the core, the dreadful emptiness Of a perverted temple. Jesus, come Break my resistance and make me your home. —Guite, Malcolm. Sounding the Seasons: 70 Sonnets for the Christian Year. Canterbury Press Norwich. PRAYER OF INTERCESSION —Adapted from Joe Milner, Suggestions For Intercessions, St. Louis University, Catholic Ministries In Christ, the Blessed and Beloved of God, who comes to bring justice and peace, we pray for the needs of the world: For the Church, that we may join in unity and harmony in letting go of control and power, and allow the your Spirit to sustain and renew us each day...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For all who are suffering for the sake of others, that God will give them strength, help them to serve without looking for a reward, and draw them closer to you through their deeds of service...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For the grace to forgive, that we may have the courage to forgive freely all who injure us just as God has forgiven us...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For single-heartedness, that you will help us entrust every aspect of our lives into your waiting and capable hands and grow in our desire that your will be done in all things...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For the gift of humility, that we may not seek honor but, like Jesus, offer ourselves in service to one another...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For all who are suffering, particularly those being persecuted for living out their spirituality and religion, that you will sustain them and help them to give faithful witness to the love above all loves...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For all who have been humiliated or unjustly accused, that you will give them strength, heal their pain, and help them find their value in being children of the Benevolent Parent, our Mother and Father...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For all who have been condemned to death, that your Spirit will help them to liik unto you and thus find hope and peace...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For governmental leaders, that God will help them to lay aside personal gain. the allure of power, the greed of riches, and follow the example of Jesus in making service of those in need a guiding principle of their work...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For all who hunger and thirst, that you will deepen our desire to share the Word of the good and water that will never run short, and help us to share our resources as to fill them with love...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For all who are experiencing loss and small deaths in their lives, that you will sustain them through loss of health, employment, or relationships, accompany them through their pain, and lead them into new life...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For an end to capital punishment, that you will help us to recognize and respect the dignity of each human life that God has created and work to end the death penalty...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For all refugees and displaced persons, that you will guide them to safety, open the hearts of many to accompany and support them, and help them to reconnect with loved ones and faith communities...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For all who have died, particularly those killed in the violence in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the continent of Africa, that they may be freed from their oppressors and that all war cease and share instead unconditional love...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. For peace, particularly in Ukraine, that peaceable Kin-Dom will break down the barriers in the hearts of opponents and open new levels of honesty in the dialogue between Russia and Ukraine, within NATO, and among all nations...Creator God, redeem us and sustain us that we may serive your well. Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in God's Name. Hosanna! PRAYER OF JESUS Loving God, in whom is heaven, may Your name be honored everywhere. May Your kin-dom come. May the desire of Your heart for the world be done, in us, by us and through us. Give us the bread we need for each day. Forgive us. Enable us to forgive others. Keep us from all anxiety and fear. For You reign in the power that comes from love which is Your glory forever and ever. Amen. —Anonymous PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AND DEDICATION God in highest heaven, how humbly you enter our world to reign: on dusty road, riding a donkey. Help us to pave the way for your eternal realm with our prayer and praise, with our constant thanksgiving, with our service and love, until the very stones cry out at the coming of your new creation; through the One who comes in your Holy Name, Hosanna in the highest! SONG FOR GOING FORTH "Ride On, Ride On, In Majesty" (Click Here For Music) —by Henry Hart Milman, D.D., 1827 Ride on, ride on in majesty! Hark! All the tribes hosanna cry. O Savior meek, pursue your road, with palms and scattered garments strowed. Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die. O Christ, your triumphs now begin o'er captive death and conquered sin. Ride on, ride on in majesty! The angel armies of the sky look down with sad and wond'ring eyes to see th'approaching sacrifice. Ride on, ride on in majesty! Your last and fiercest strife is nigh. The Father on his sapphire throne awaits his own anointed Son. Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die. Bow your meek head to mortal pain, then take, O God, your pow'r and reign. DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING I saw before me an immense crowd without number, from every nation, tribe, people and language. They stood in front of the throne and the Lamb, dressed in long white robes and holding palm branches. And they cried out in a loud voice, “Salvation is of our God, who sits on the throne, and of the Lamb!” All the angels who were encircling the throne, as well as the elders and the four living creatures, prostrated themselves before the throne. They worshiped God with these words: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen!” —Revelation 7. 9-12 We go forth to praise God in what we do. May our lives be like palm branches waved in honor of our God.
		When Christ entered into Jerusalem the people spread garments in the way: when Christ enters into our hearts, we pull off our own righteousness, and not only lay it under Christ’s feet but even trample upon it ourselves. —Augustus Toplady