Hearing the Holy Week Story Anew

Today is Palm Sunday, or for some of us Passion Sunday.  Some of us will hear the whole Holy week story today, and some of us will hear it throughout the week, and some of us will do both--the whole story today and then returning to church and/or devotional time that returns us to the story.

Today in my sermon, I'll suggest that we approach this repetition as a lectio divina.  As we hear the story again and again, what word or phrase lodges within us?

We will be hearing stories that many of us have heard many times before. How can we hear them with fresh ears?  One way is to use the Ignatian discipline of trying to imagine ourselves as part of the story.

One year I was startled to realize how much I identified with Pontius Pilate as an administrator. That year, I saw the Good Friday story in a different light. One year I read Mary Oliver's "The Poet Thinks about the Donkey" (you can read it here: https://predmore.blogspot.com/2016/03/poem-poet-thinks-about-donkey-by-mary.html). I hadn't thought much about the donkey that carries Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and my perspective shifted.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking. Tell the story from the perspective of:

--the person who cleans up after the last supper

--the towels used by Jesus to wash the feet of the disciples

--the cross itself

--an indifferent observer on Palm Sunday

--the sibling of Jesus who had always seen this day (Good Friday? Palm Sunday?) coming

--the disciple we don't usually hear about

--the rooster that crows three times

Here's hoping for a creative week-end, in all the ways our creativity can manifest itself!