Listen!
What is that? Are people singing?
Listen!
It sounds like a parade!
Look!
Someone is coming, riding a donkey.
Look!
People are scattering cloaks on the ground and waving branches as he comes.
Sing! Dance!
God’s Chosen one is coming, how can we help but sing and dance our joy?
Hosanna, Loud Hosanna, we sing as we join in the parade of ages…
OPENING PRAYER
God, today we join with thousands of others in a palm parade.
God, today we join with thousands of others in a palm parade.
Today we join in the parade, not of the rich and mighty but of the ragged and weak. As we worship and pray and sing together may you fill our hearts with a vision of what could be. May this time together change us and how we see the parade of life. Amen.
Offering Prayer
God, as we join in life’s parade to justice we offer all we have and are in the hope that justice and peace will reign on earth. Use, we pray, our gifts in pursuit of the larger hope. Amen.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION/ASSURANCE OF PARDON
For the times we turn our backs on the parades of life, choosing instead the easy way of quiet we cry out…
Hosanna! Save us God!
For the times we have chosen to join the wrong parades, choosing the popular instead of the good we cry out…
Hosanna! Save us God!
For all the times we have been bandwagon jumpers, going with the flow of opinion, switching sides at random, we cry out…
Hosanna! Save us God!
…time of silent prayer…
God calls us to the parade of life. God offers us forgiveness where we fall short of God’s hope. And so it is with confidence we can cry out…
Hosanna! Save us God! Amen.
For the times we turn our backs on the parades of life, choosing instead the easy way of quiet we cry out…
Hosanna! Save us God!
For the times we have chosen to join the wrong parades, choosing the popular instead of the good we cry out…
Hosanna! Save us God!
For all the times we have been bandwagon jumpers, going with the flow of opinion, switching sides at random, we cry out…
Hosanna! Save us God!
…time of silent prayer…
God calls us to the parade of life. God offers us forgiveness where we fall short of God’s hope. And so it is with confidence we can cry out…
Hosanna! Save us God! Amen.
COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTION
The parade of glory ended in Jerusalem
And people sang and danced.
The parade of life carries on.
And people sing, dance, weep, and grieve.
We go out to walk wherever the parade route takes us.
We go out to share in the reality of the world, bring hope and light to the dark and dreary places we meet.
And we go out secure in the guidance of the Divine Parade Marshal. God keeps the parade of life on track.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
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