Upcoming on Sunday, April 6 (Palm Sunday)

Just two weeks before Easter, the 5^th Sunday has, in many traditions, special significance and special customs.

In Scotland and parts of England, for example, peas cooked in butter are traditional on this particular Sunday. I can’t recall why this is, but I personally like buttered peas and it seems like a neat bit of “indulgence” in the midst of a Lenten fast—at least the butter part, right? J

For most of the history of the church, the 5^th Sunday in Lent was known as Passion Sunday, an opportunity to renew personal Lenten commitments to repentance, self-examination, prayer and fasting prior to Holy Week. Our series in the Heidelberg Catechism calls for the Ten Commandments to be our focus on this particular Sunday. We will recite them together following the prayer of confession and assurance of pardon. Why at that point in the service? Because the Heidelberg puts the commandments in “Part III-Gratitude” and envisions “the Law” as a guide for grateful living.  

The sermon, entitled “My Prayer” will be a personal testimony of sorts—Lord willing—an opportunity to share not merely what the scripture might be saying to us, but what God’s grace and living in gratitude mean to me—deep down inside of me. The sermon flows out of the contrasting prophecies of God in Jeremiah 17, “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord” (verse 5) and “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord” (verse 7), scripture passages referenced in the Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 34.  And we’ll celebrate the Lord’s Supper, too. So even though April 6 isn’t a “special day” on the calendar of the church year, I hope this mostly-traditional service of worship will prove to be deeply inspirational for all.