"Jesus's Triumphal Entry" - Walking the Palm Sunday Path

Confession #1: It's kind of a tough call, but 'Lent just might be my favorite season of the church year. Over the years, I've enjoyed the Lenten focus on spiritual practice and self-reflection because it reminds me to slow down - at least a little bit!... So, I'm curious: Does anyone else have a particular fondness for the season of Lent? [Show of hands, if you do!...] Yeah, so some of us appreciate the gifts of Lent. BUT at the very same time, I'm aware that some of us also have some "baggage" around Lent for a variety of reasons. So, just to be fair: How many of you either don't like Lent or have mixed feelings about it? [show of hands...] It's all good because God has created each of us in such a way that we resonate with some things and not with others. And I'm pretty sure that's why God continues to speak to humankind in many and various ways!...

Confession #2: While I appreciate Lent's traditional focus on spiritual practice and self-reflection, this year I sense the Spirit urging me to shake things up. And I know I'm not the only preacher who's feeling this way!... This year Lent is hitting differently because you and I and children of God all over the world are living in desperate times, and I think we all know the truth of the saying "desperate times call for desperate measures...." By the way, my curiosity led me to search for the origin of that familiar adage, and I learned that it goes all the back to the Greek physician, Hippocrates, who lived about 400 years before Jesus. Hippocrates actually framed it in medical terms, declaring, "Extreme diseases require extreme measures of healing." When I read that, I thought, "Amen to that! The extreme destruction and brokenness in our world today§ a disease; it's like a cancer that's metastasizing, and it will require extreme measures of healing and reconciliation. And in order to arrive at the place of true healing and reconciliation, we must remain faithful in following the Way of Jesus "

So, I'm curious: How many of you who aren't clergy noticed that the Scripture readings we just heard aren't the traditional readings for the first Sunday in Lent? [show of hands] Besides the pastors in the room, who knows what the usual gospel story is for the first Sunday in Lent? [ ] Yeah, that's kind of a softball question, since I based the kids' message on the story of Jesus's 40 days in the wilderness!... Anyway, as I wrote in yesterday's worship email, this year we're going to be shake up our vision and - I hope! --draw inspiration from a Lenten sermon series put together by professors and pastors affiliated with Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. The series is called "Walking the Palm Sunday Path." It's inspired by the Palm Sunday Path movement, which is calling Christians to put our faith into visible action by processing together in state capitals and other cities across the United States on Palm Sunday afternoon, March 29^th. Other events are being organized that will allow us to join our Christian siblings in what Professor Matt Skinner describes as "a hope-filled, visible proclamation of Jesus, who rejected the false glory of domination and retribution and declared that God has a better way: a path of love..." THAT'S why we're hearing the Palm Sunday gospel on this first Sunday in Lent!²

Speaking of false prophets, I want to circle back to where I began: We live in desperate times, friends. And desperate times call for desperate measures.... As I was preparing for preaching this week, I remembered something my internship supervisor once said to me way back in the day, "As a pastor and a person of faith, once or twice in your lifetime, you'll be faced with this question: 'For what or for whom am I willing to go to the cross?...."' Friends, THIS is one of those times! At this very moment, many of our neighbors are living in fear of the lives. At this very moment, many of the freedoms we all hold dear are being disregarded, threatened, and trampled - including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. Allow me to share one small personal example that gives me pause: On Friday afternoon, I was stunned to see that a prophetic piece written by another pastor, which I had shared on social media, had been partially deleted - no doubt because it relayed the message that the US is NOT a Christian nation, but rather a nation where authoritarians are misusing and misrepresenting the Christian faith for their own self-centered purposes. In a similar vein, CBS refused to air an interview Stephen Colbert did with James Talarico, an articulate young Christian who is running for office in Texas. Talarico has been prophetically calling out the unchristian words and deeds of many leaders who profess to be followers of Jesus, and it seems there are some in power who wish to silence him because they perceive him to be a threat.  Granted, these might seem like small examples compared to some other things that are happening today, but when our freedom to speak out about our Christian faith is curtailed, it seems to me the handwriting is on the wall, and if things continue in this way, that and other freedoms you and I take for granted may soon no longer be granted to us....

My friends, these desperate times call for desperate measures. As followers of Jesus, you and I are called to walk the Palm Sunday path with him, knowing that this is the road that inevitably leads to the cross and also to abundant life. Someone has wisely observed that those who seek new life cannot go around the cross; we can only go through it, just as Jesus himself was compelled to do. In seeking the courage to follow in Jesus's footsteps, you and I must follow his example by steeping ourselves in prayer and entrusting ourselves to God's care and keeping every step of the way. As we walk the Palm Sunday path Jesus, may our words and actions proclaim the truth of God's loving, liberating, life-giving kindom, where every child of God is welcome and beloved. In closing, I'd like to share with you some spiritual food for thought that comes from one of my teachers, Father Richard Rohr. Father Richard underscores the urgency of living an authentic, Christ-centered faith. He writes this:

Christianity is a lifestyle - a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, and loving. However, we made it into an established "religion" (and all that goes with that) and avoided the lifestyle change itself. One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one's "personal Lord and Savior  " The world has no time for such silliness

anymore. The suffering on earth is too great.

¹ Cf. Hebrews 1:1

² Matthew Skinner, “Walking the Palm Sunday Path: A Lenten Sermon Series for 2026,” Craft of Preaching, www.workingpreacher.org , 21 January 2026.

"Jesus's Triumphal Entry" - Walking the Palm Sunday Path