PALM SUNDAY is April 13th and we will have services at 8 a.m. and 10.:30am
The 10:30 service will begin in the courtyard.
The Sunday before Easter at which Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mt 21:1-11, Mk 11:1-11a, Lk 19:29-40) and Jesus’ Passion on the cross (Mt 26:36-27:66, Mk 14:32-15:47, Lk 22:39-23:56) are recalled. It is alsoknown as the Sunday of the Passion. Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week. Red is the liturgical color forthe day. The observance of Palm Sunday in Jerusalem was witnessed by the pilgrim Egeria in about 381-384.During this observance there was a procession of people down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem. The people waved branches of palms or olive trees as they walked. They sang psalms, including Ps 118, and shouted the antiphon, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The Palm Sunday observance was generally accepted throughout the church by the twelfth century. However, the day was identified in the 1549BCP as simply “The Sunday next before Easter.” The blessing of branches and the procession were notincluded. The 1928 BCP added the phrase “commonly called Palm Sunday” to the title of the day. A form for blessing palms was provided by the Book of Offices (1960). The 1979 BCP presents the full title for the day,“The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday” (BCP, p. 270). The liturgy of the palms is the entrance rite for the service. The congregation may gather at a place apart from the church and process to the church after the blessing of the branches of palm or other trees (BCP, p. 270). The liturgy of the palms includes a reading ofone of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. The branches may be distributed to the people before the service.
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