This Sunday we enter the holiest of weeks in the Christian calendar with Palm Sunday. It is the time we set aside every year to walk Jesus’ last steps, that we may know some piece of the unimaginable love of God.
It begins on Sunday when we gather outside for the Liturgy of the Palms. We tell the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem where people gathered to wave palm branches and sing hosannas. But just as the shouts for joy quickly turns to shouts of ‘crucify him,’ our service changes into the Passion Liturgy as we process into the sanctuary. We enter the pain and sorrow of Jesus’ death when we read aloud the final events of his life, this year from Matthew’s Gospel.
It is at this point that a homily may be offered. I say ‘may,’ because the practice varies a lot across the Episcopal Church. Some opt for silence after the Passion reading, before continuing with the service. Some read it as the very last part of the service and depart in silence. And some preach afterward in the hope of helping folks make sense of the intensity of what they’ve just heard. All of these ways of experiencing the Passion are holy, simply offering a different framework for holding us in the story.
I have always been at churches where it is customary for there to be a homily following the Passion narrative, including here at St. James’. And yet, every year as I’ve prepared to preach, I’ve had the same thought: What more is there to say?
What I long for is a profound moment of silence to sink into all the thoughts and emotions invoked when we read about the ultimate sinfulness of humanity – the attempt to put God’s love to death – and then to pick ourselves up and continue in our worship, praying for one another, sharing the peace, and coming to the table to receive the bread and the wine, tangible reminders that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
And so this year, I will not be offering a homily after the Passion reading. I will invite you into silence, perhaps even more than you are comfortable with. But my hope is that you will join me in sinking deep into this most sacred of stories, that we may get ready to come close to the Mystery of Easter when we gather together on Easter Day.
Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+