PROCESSIONS

Sermon preached by Fr. Tony Noble

at High Mass on Palm Sunday,  March 16^th, 2008

Mark 11.9:   “And the crows that went before him and that followed him shouted ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!”

Palm Sunday is one of the great days of the Christian year. There is a sense of excitement - and fun - in the Palm Procession. Then the atmosphere changes to wonder and awe as we enter the church, decorated beautifully with all its palms. There is a sense of the triumph of Our Lord's entry into Jerusalem.

But the atmosphere soon changes as we get to the liturgy of the word. The 1st and 2nd readings speak of the triumph of Our Lord.....but psalm 22 begins with jesu's words from the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Made all the more moving in the Passion reading by being read first in the Hebrew. The dramatic reading of the Passion of our Lord according to St. Matthew brings home to us the reality of what Jesus wet through.

We are so used to seeing the cross - that the reality of what Jesus suffered is forgotten by us. Then there is the unusual reference to Jesus refusing the vinegar & gall. Vinegar mixed with gall was a sedative to dull the senses and relive the pain. But Jesus would have none of this! He wanted to experience all of the agony of the cross, to really go though the passion - so that his sacrifice might be real. So that it might be a real redemption for our sins, which cause God so much pain.

There was a sense, as we went through the procession that we were experiencing the first Palm Sunday - performing the very events we celebrate.

Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, some time ago wrote these words:  “The church does not merely read the Bible but performs it. The reading of scripture in worship is not for the instruction of the congregation: it is part of an occurrence in which lives are dramatically caught up into a classic narrative that is being enacted.” 

That is very true. Today - through our re-enactment of Palm Sunday - we are caught up into that narrative of an event which began Holy Week. It would be wonderful to be in Jerusalem today, and follow the actual journey that Jesus took from the Mount of Olives to the city of Jerusalem.

But, like christians in every century, we do it in our own way here - and with the great Episcopalian tradition of a procession! So we begin this Holy Week. In itself Holy Week is at the heart of the gospel - the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Processions will feature throughout this week.  On Maundy Thursday, when we re-enact the Last Supper in the special Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the liturgy climaxes with the solemn procession of the Sacrament through the church to the chapel where our garden of Gethsemane is set up for the altar of repose. 

On Good Friday at 12 noon - the sixth hour referred to in the gospel - a procession will follow the Stations of the Cross around the church as we walk to Calvary. Then at 7 pm we will celebrate the ancient liturgy of the Passion of Our lord - a liturgy based on what happened in Jerusalem in the 4th century. After the Emporer Constantine freed christianity from persecution christians gathered in Jerusalem on the site of Calvary to venereate the relic of the true cross. So the figure of Christ crucified will be carried in solemn procession through the church, stopping 3 times as the priest sings: "Behold the wood of the cross", to which we will respond: "Come let us worship". 

Then will follow our own processions, as a response. Firstly, to adore the crucified Christ; and secondly to partake of the Sacred Host in Holy Communion from the sacrament reserved the night before. There is no Mass celebrated, no sacranments, no holy water or blessings on Good Friday - for it is a day of emptiness and desolation. And when the priest says "The Body of Christ" it has a profound meaning, as we contemplate the wounded body of Christ.

Then on Saturday night, another ancient liturgy going back to Jerusalem in teh 4th century - the beautiful service of the Easter Vigil. A new fire is lit on the patio, representing the new life of the Risen Christ. From this is lit the great Paschal Candle, which symbolises the Risen Christ amongst us. Now another procession. The Paschal Candle is carried through the dark and empty church. As with the cross on Good Friday, it stops 3 times - but with a different atmosphere. The deacon sings: "The light of Christ", and we respond: "Thanks be to God". It turns the Good Friday procession upside down. And we part of that procession, receiving our own light of the Risen Christ from the Pascal Candle. 

And as if that were not enough - this is All Saints', after all - on Easter Day we have another procession at the beginning of High Mass. A traditional Episcopal procession around the church, as we acclaim not "Hosanna", but "Alleluia"!

Processions accompanied by singing and ritual – all central to the liturgies we celebrate this week. All part of the drama of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Of course every Eucharist is a re-enactment of the drama of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Today we don’t just begin Holy Week - we have entered into it. We have gone back in time, and brought it forward to today.  And for why?  So that as we experience the false hopes of today, and the depth of Christ's love on Maundy Thursday, and the desolation of Good Friday, and the excitement of new life on Saturday night - so we might find ourselves, come Saturday, to be newly called disciples of the Risen Christ, full of faith, hope, love, joy and peace.