Palm Sunday is kind of like an emotional microcosm of everything we will experience during Holy Week: the celebration of the entry into Jerusalem, the tenderness of the last meal of Jesus with his friends, the horror and senselessness of the cross - and over it all, the promise of redemption in Christ we literally taste in every Sunday liturgy.

Yet the way we do the Palm Sunday liturgy according to the Book of Common Prayer's plan leaves some feeling jarring and jumbled.  The Prayer Book liturgy begins cries of "Hosanna," and the blessing of the palms. Then in place of the usual Gospel proclamation from the center of our space, we find ourselves bearing witness to a dramatic reading of the crucifixion.

 So the Book of Common Prayer Palm Sunday liturgy is experienced by some as something that has the crucifixion dropped into the middle of it. After moving through two opposing themes and feelings, we wonder what to do with ourselves afterwards. Church musicians spend a lot of time wrestling with how to get the musical "feel" for Palm Sunday right. We think about how to craft the narrative and emotions of the music to tell a story that feels like it jumps from one thing to another. Preachers also wonder what to say after all of that - even if anything should be said.

So when Mother Alissa talked to me a couple of weeks ago about the idea of doing a rearrangement of the liturgy for Palm Sunday, I got curious. I did a bit of reading to see if this had been done before, or if we would be real liturgical trailblazers.

Here's what I found. If it seems like what we've been doing before is two liturgies in one, that's because they are! Holy Week liturgies originally began to be celebrated in Jerusalem before they spread more widely.  On Palm Sunday, the church celebrated a Eucharist remembering the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, went home for a quick lunch, and then came back at 1 p.m for a procession followed by the singing of the passion story. (You can read more about this from Marion Hatchett, in his "Commentary on the American Prayer Book.")

So this year, with the Bishop's permission and with a little guidance from the Diocese of Chicago, we are going to try something different. We will celebrate Passion Sunday something like what happened in fourth century Jerusalem. There won't be a break for lunch, but we will instead do things in an order similar to what earlier Christians experienced.

This Sunday, we'll do the blessing of the palms and the procession, then celebrate the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Table focusing on the themes of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.  Holy Communion will end simply, and we will then read the Passion at the end of the service instead of at the beginning. I'd invite you to pay attention to how this feels for you, doing Palm Sunday in a different rhythm like this, and talk to me and Alissa about how it went for you. 

Palm Sunday has a lot of feelings, and I hope you will join us to feel all the feels of Holy Week, as we bring the past into the present with in the liturgy: the work we all do together for the good of everyone.

- Martin