Image: Palm Sunday © Jan Richardson
Reading from the Gospels, Palm Sunday: Matthew 21.1-11
What is the difference between a sacred procession and a violent mob? The answer lies somewhere between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. As we enter this stretch of the season, we might do well to linger long with this turning of the tale. In this time when it has grown so difficult to discern the truth among the multiplicity of messages and to resist being manipulated by those who do the telling, the ancient story of Christ’s journey to the cross has something to teach us about whose voice we listen to, and what parade we choose to join.
But for today, we turn our ears toward the sound of rejoicing. Today we join our voices with the cries that sing praise to the one who comes in the name of the Lord. And we pray for wisdom, that we may see the Christ who enters again into our midst, and rejoice when we recognize him, and follow in the way that he goes.
I have reflected previously on this passage and invite you to visit Palm Sunday: Where the Way Leads. As we accompany Christ, who draws ever closer to the cross this week, what voices are you listening to? What messages are coming your way—from the media, from friends and family, from the community around you, from your own soul and mind? What are you hearing, and how do you sift and sort it? To whom are you listening these days, and why? Where and how do you choose to lift your own voice?
Blessing of Palms
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 from 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.
—Jan Richardson
2016 update: “Blessing of Palms” appears in my new book Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. You can find the book here.
[To use the image “Palm Sunday” image, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]
Resources for the season: Looking toward Lent
And blogging daily at Sanctuary of Women during Lent…
April 16, 2011 at 2:45 PM |
As usual, Jan, your entry for Palm Sunday was brilliant! Your minimal image says a lot and I loved the Blessing; especially the fourth stanza mentioning the stitching and etching. My visual brain saw images pop up that were inspiring. Thanks so much for your continued faithfulness to point us to the Christ. A Blessed Palm Sunday to You!
April 16, 2011 at 10:09 PM |
Oh Jan, I am grateful to have visited your blog tonight and to have read your Palm Sunday thoughts. As one who has experienced a life of tumult and the mercurial madness of mob mentality, I do intend to linger long this Holy Week in prayer for Wisdom’s Voice and to sift tenderly, gently the messages that pour into my soul, and in turn, to cast my voice–pure and clear as I can shape it–in the direction that Christ goes.
Blessings on Your Holy Week, Linda
April 4, 2017 at 9:03 PM |
Dear Jan,
Loving greetings from Australia.
Thank you so much for this journey through Lent. So many other writers and artists seem to focus on guilt, “sordid sinfulness” and the extremes of the cruelty of the crucifixion – but you invite us into our world of pain differently – yes that too is deeply connected to our sinful condition – but the challenges that you pose in imagery and art provide a more holistic view of our own sorrows and the sufferings of the world that I am constantly encouraged to respond in the hope of healing and the richness of grace. Thank you for the wisdom you express. I will retreat to a beautiful wild and beautiful bush setting for the Easter triduum – a lavish gift for this time.
My yours be rich in grace.