The palm and the passion

by Ken Sehested

Welcome to this Circle of faith. Today we mark both the pain and the passion of the human journey toward the arms of God.

Jesus, riding a humble donkey, entered Jerusalem, cheered by the crowd.

Palms and cloaks were laid in his path as a sign of messianic hope for deliverance.

Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes with liberation.

We, too, long to be saved, to be delivered from occupation.

Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes.

But who is this one who comes, this one who conquers?

Why this confusion: Mighty One, mounted on the colt of a common donkey, rather than on a stallion of war?

What does this mean? What struggle is this?

¿Es una buena lucha?

¡Es una buena lucha!

Morning by morning the Beloved awakens me.

Tuning my ear to heaven’s harmony.

Be gracious to me, Blessed One, for I am in distress.

My eyes are awash with grief; my tears are a drowning flood.

My bones bulge under the weight of unlived life.

Sighs crowd my heart and swell my tongue.

Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Over Asheville. Over the Circle of Mercy.

Can you hear it? Can you hear it?

But the One who vindicates is near.

The approach of Beloved has reached our ears.

Hear this, O people of The Way: The fitness of Christ is available to all. Hide not your face from this Deliverer. Your sins are insufficient, your shortcomings are too paltry, your frailties are too insignificant and your fears are too impotent to overwhelm the Reign of Grace!

We hear, and in hearing we rejoice!

 

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org