Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

West Point, Mississippi

The Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday) [B]

Isaiah 50.4-9a Psalm 31.9-16 Philippians 2.5-11 Mark 14.1-15.47

May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that

I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.

Outline of a Sermon Delivered Extemporaneously

1) “All glory, laud, and honor to thee, Redeemer, King!” (Hymn 154)

a) Don’t we just love our traditions; how we celebrate the high feasts of the Church year.

i) I once got to sing that hymn in procession–complete with incense, banners and palms–through Times Square.

(1) The tourists loved it, snapping many pictures, with some even following us back into the church for the celebration of the Sunday of the Passion.

b) But faith and festival are two different things.

i) Today, we get to test whether we are cultural Christians or creedal Christians.

2) Cultural Christians can be High Church or Low Church.

a) The point is not whether you love a service to include incense and chant, or whether you prefer a simple spoken service with hymns.

i) It’s whether what moves you is the beauty or familiarity of the service or the presence of the Lord whom you have come to offer worship.

3) Cultural Christians may be in church on every Sunday because, well, that’s what you do; it’s expected.

a) There’s a sense of obligation involved.

i) And we are, in fact, commanded by God to honor the sabbath.

b) Or cultural Christians may show up only occasionally, such as at Christmas and Easter, out of a lingering sense of obligation, and a nostalgia for festivals remembered from childhood.

i) But there’s a big, big difference between singing about Jesus as our Redeemer and King, and obeying Him as King.

c) The festivals and nostalgia for them are good things, because they remind us that however “lapsed” we may consider ourselves to be in faith, God still calls us back and reaches out to us.

4) But, faith is not about how uplifting any festival may be. Creedal Christianity is a faith formed in practice which may love festivals but survives their absence.

a) It is the faith that says with the centurion standing at the cross, “Truly, this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15.39).

i) A faith which can live without the emotion and splendor of festival, to recognize the lord even in the darkest place, knowing that Jesus not only was the Son of God, but is.

(1) That He is the Lord who reigns on high now.

(2) That as we may seek to stand with the centurion by the cross, we are assured always that whatever dark place we may be in, Jesus is with us.

5) So, this Palm Sunday, this Holy Week, this Easter, as we gather in worship, let us offer up the beauty of worship because it is worship, not because it may be beautiful.

a) Let us offer up the faith which looks to the Lord even when He hangs upon the Cross.

b) The faith which is not moved by a crowd hailing the arrival of a king, but which is moved in the sure knowledge that a heart given to God is a heart in which this King lives now, rules now, redeems now.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.