Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Greetings in the name of our crucified and risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is now a little more than one month since we last met together in our sanctuary for worship, prayer and holy communion. Over the course of this month, the Holy Spirit has preserved us in our common life together in Christ. Through Internet connections and applications such as Facebook, YouTube and Zoom we have gathered together around God's Word for worship, teaching and prayer. Through traditional phone and wireless connections we have reached out in fellowship to care for, encourage and comfort one another. Through mail and delivery services or even through gifts we drop at the doorstep, we have reminded each other of the connections we share to each other through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I praise and thank the Lord for you. I praise and thank the Lord for the love you have shared and received from each other in Jesus' name. I praise and thank God that throughout this month, you have worked so diligently and generously to slow the spread, to protect the most vulnerable and to sustain the mission  of Christ, using your many and diverse spiritual gifts in so many new and creative ways. I praise and thank our Lord for you!

Yet now it seems that we will need to patiently persevere in this way for at least another month. Just that realization can be overwhelming and disheartening. So, I write to you today so that you do not lose heart, but instead you might be strengthened in your faith in Jesus and inspired in your love by participating fully in the common life we share. 

Matthew 21:1-17
Grace, mercy and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

I think it is very easy this week to lose ourselves in the past. In melancholy memories or angry grief. This is, after all, nothing like the Palm Sundays we have celebrated in years past. In the past we began by gathering close together, shoulder to shoulder, out in the lounge. The youth passing out palm branches, bulletins and hymnals, the Sunday school kids and choir ready to lead our procession into the sanctuary. And the whole company of saints waving palm branches and singing and praising and parading through the sanctuary and up to the altar. And then, the children would sing for us all and they would remind us —if we had eyes to see and ears to hear -- that the true inspired and enduring praise of Palm Sunday comes from the mouths of infants and babies and children noisily celebrating the arrival of our long-awaited king!

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Grace, mercy and peace to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This Sunday, Palm Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week and the start of the most significant season of year. This time each year we return to the center of our faith to hear, mark and meditate on the events through which God has rescued, saved and redeemed the world through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

At the same time we find ourselves in the middle of a public health emergency that has driven our world, our nation and our local communities into turmoil. Everyday we feel, not only the fear and anxiety that has gripped us and our neighbors, but also the deep grief and sadness that has wrapped the world in dark shroud.