Salem

Beginning Holy Week is a day that points to the range of events of the next seven days. Palm Sunday begins with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. He was popular with the people who cheered and welcomed him by laying palm branches before him, even laying down their clothes in his pathway on the dusty street to honor him. They sang their Hosannas to him, acknowledging him to be the Son of David, the long-awaited Messiah.

But before the week was out, the masses melted away -- even Jesus' closest disciples abandoned him -- as the authorities that Jesus was criticizing asserted their power. The priests colluded with the Romans to settle down the people (whom they feared might get out of control with their support for Jesus) and Jesus was executed by the Romans by the commonly used capital punishment for foreigners, crucifixion.

So Palm Sunday worship begins with the triumphal entry into the sanctuary, reminding us of Jesus' entry, but it quickly moves, in the Passion Narrative (the story of Jesus' last week before Easter), to the Last Supper, to the trial before Pilate, to the crucifixion, and to the death and burial of Jesus. In spoken word, through music, and by action we preview the events that will unfold this week in the Triduum Service, a three day service -- Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil (Saturday Evening, the beginning of Easter Morning). Come join our worship this Holy Week and on Easter.