Palm Sunday

What is Worship?

Palm Sunday, by M. Alice Abrams

Poetry

Triumphal Entry, after the Jeff Hein painting of the same name

by James Goldberg

As God is walking through the gallery, he sees it—
a picture of eight pigeons and a homeless man. 
They are not, of course, the same birds 
he used to watch hustling around that gate 
in East Jerusalem, that old gang of three 
who hardly ever left and the two crazy sparrows 
who stayed with them, though the brownish one 
does look—a little bit—like puff-chested Elimelech, 
and one of them is pecking between the stones 
the way Huldah the Pigeon used to, as she dodged 
between the much-less-washed feet 
of far denser crowds. Another of the pigeons—
in the painting—is standing at attention near the 
homeless man, looking out toward the middle 
of the street, in a pose that reminds God 
of the real pigeon he called Abner. 

Yes, Abner. Who could sometimes look up, 
in a way pigeons so seldom do, as his narrow 
consciousness caught onto something beyond 
the next crumb of bread, the next scrap for 
a nest. Abner, who could almost see 
God's breath as it rode on the winds. 

In the painting, the homeless man, sitting behind 
the pigeon who is not actually Abner, 
has a thoughtful expression on his face, 
as if he, too, can feel it. 

As if anyone in all the cheering and waving, 
all the watching and wishing and whispering 
crowd had an inkling of what was happening 
before their very eyes 
or of the great and terrible triumph 
that lay just ahead.

Music

All Glory, Laud, and Honor

All glory, laud, and honor
To you, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

You are the King of Israel
And David’s royal Son,
Now in the Lord’s name coming,
The King and Blessed One.

The company of angels
Is praising you on high;
And we with all creation
In chorus make reply.

The people of the Hebrews
With palms before you went;
Our praise and prayer and anthems
Before you we present.

To you before your passion,
They sang their hymns of praise;
To you, now high exalted,
Our melody we raise.

As you received their praises,
Accept the prayers we bring,
for you delight in goodness,
O good and gracious King!

History

This hymn began as a Latin text, “Gloria, laus, et honor,” written in the ninth century by St. Theodulf of Orleans, who wrote it as a processional chant for Palm Sunday. It is sometimes called “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna.” The lyrics and its joyful melody bring to mind what the crowd cried out during Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that special Sunday.

The Latin version of the song passed down through Christian believers until 1854 when John Mason Neale, a hymnologist and Anglican priest, translated it into English and paired it with the tune we sing today.

Neale wrote many other hymns, including the popular “Good Christian Men, Rejoice,” as well as being a prolific translator of ancient and medieval hymns. His ability to remain faithful to the original texts and set them to familiar tunes helped popularize many hymns that might have otherwise been lost or forgotten.

Throughout his career as an Anglican priest, Neale was deeply committed to the revival of ancient Christian practices and the restoration of the Catholic tradition within the Anglican Church. He founded the Society of Saint Margaret, a religious community of women dedicated to serving the poor and sick, and he also established a publishing house, the Ecclesiological Society, which promoted the study of church architecture and art.

“All Glory, Laud, and Honor” allows each of us to picture ourselves in the crowd welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem with joyful shouts of “Hosanna!”

by Michael D. Young, from Sacred Days, Sacred Songs

Activity Idea

Make palm fronds from construction paper or learn a new hymn!

Scripture

“Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey…” —Matthew 21:5

This citation is a combination of Zechariah 9:9 and Isaiah 62:11. . . . Zechariah speaks of a king who does not lord it over others, but who takes his place with those who are suffering. Zechariah speaks of a king who is righteous rather than violent. Zechariah speaks about a king who is strong in faith, not armed to the teeth. Isaiah speaks of rejoicing, community, and redemption. . . . Something long known but not yet experienced, something exciting, revelatory, is coming. And we are called into the procession of justice, of compassion, of peace, of a vision of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom as God wants it to be.

—Amy-Jill Levine

Additional Reading