Grits and the Gospel - April 13, 2025

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of Gritz in the Gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths and I'm so excited to be here with you all today. It is Palm Sunday We have made it to the end of want we are coming up on Holy Week and We are then moving to that beautiful glorious day of Easter and I'm so thankful that we have been on this journey together And that we get to worship in this way together today I hope that in your own life at home and your real life not in your Technology all-monger that you are going to a service and waving a palm somewhere and It is my sincere hope that you have that church family and if you don't I hope you find one because there's nothing like sitting in the PEU's with someone and being filled with the spirit together You may hear a little snazzy snaz Honey is still not live in the pollen and so you may hear her in the background. She is sending her love as well today Let us come together now in a time of worship the Lord be with you and also with you today's Psalm is from the 118th Psalm we're gonna start with the first two verses and Then moved to verses 19 through 29 these verses Are called in or this Psalm is called the Passover praise Psalm and It is very meaningful to the story that we are telling right now of Jesus and his trip to the cross and It starts with the waving of the palms, but there are several other things and these these verses that are reminiscent of this liturgical time of the year and I hope that you will hear them and be inspired by them Here now the word of the Lord Good thanks to the Lord for he is good his steadfast love and doers forever open Let Israel say his steadfast love and doers forever open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord This is the gate of the Lord the righteous shall enter through it Thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone This is the Lord's doing It is marvelous in our eyes This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it Save us we beseech you oh Lord oh Lord we beseech you give us success Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord we bless you from the house of the Lord the Lord is God and He has given us light Find the festival procession with branches up to the horns of the altar You are my God and I will give thanks to you you are my God I will extol you Give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love and doers forever The word of God for us the what in the people of God Thanks be to God Let us come together now and say those tenants of our faith that we believe in Friends what do we believe I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit Born of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day he rose from the dead He ascended into heaven and said it at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from then see shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen Let us pray through where we come to you today waving our palms and laying our cloaks before you We are so blessed so humbled So inspired by Your journey to the cross It started with a parade a beautiful processional of people and palms and love In Jerusalem Hear us now as we pray those words that you taught us to pray Our Father who art in heaven how would be thy name thy kingdom come by will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against you Against us. It is not intemptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Amen Today's gospel lesson comes from the gospel according to Luke this version is One that is not quite as familiar listen to maybe why it's not Before we do that I would like to say a theme in my own spiritual life and growth through my time in school and as a study scripture to preach the gospel has been to start To see these familiar stories and text with fresh eyes I do that through study I do that through prayer. I do that through writing And I do that through the words of people that I respect Before we read today's scripture I thought I would read a poem by one of my favorites Mary Oliver titled The poet thinks about the donkey The outskirts of Jerusalem the donkey waited Not especially brave or filled with understanding he stood and waited How horses turned out into the meadow let leap with delight how does Release from their cages clatter away Splashed with sunlight But the donkey tied to a tree as usual waited And he let himself be led away Then he let the stranger mount Never had seen such crowd and I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen still He was what he had always been small dark obedient I Hope finally he felt brave I hope finally He loved the man who rode so lightly upon him as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped as he had to Forward Today's scripture text is from late the 19th chapter verses 28 through 40 Here now the word of the Lord After he had said this he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem When he had come near Beth Page and Bethany at the place called the Mount of Olives He sent two of his disciples say Go into the village ahead of you as you enter it you will find tied their occult There's never been written Entire it and bring it here If anyone asks you why are you on tying it just say this the Lord needs it So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them As they were untying the cult its owners asked them why are you untying the cult and they said the Lord needs it Then they brought it to Jesus and after throwing their cloaks on the cult They set Jesus on it As he rode along people kept spreading their cloaks on the road Now as he was approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen saying blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and joy and the highest heaven Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him teacher order your disciples to stop answered I tell you If these were silent The stones would shout out the word of God for us the people of God. Thanks be to God Would you pray with me? To Lord as we come to hear these words on Palm Sunday. Let us be inspired Let us be changed. Let us be moved by the story of your journey to the cross With the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be upset acceptable in the eyesight. Oh, Lord My strength and my Redeemer I'm in I Took my own advice this week In preparing for this week's message I went back and looked at the weeks leading up to Palm Sunday Not big on sermon series for me in the way I write it takes the timeliness from the messages I am given It's not that I'm opposed to them as a matter of fact. I have one planned for this summer Something to try out new But on a normal basis. I don't love them It's just not how my brain and my communication with God work best For me I found just as much inspiration as looking back and seeing the things and themes as they were woven without me really knowing it by the spirit It keeps the inspiration I am giving a place to live in the majesty and the mystery of God Sometimes as theologians we study the mystery of God right out of faith But this way that I am inspired helps keep that aspect of faith at the forefront Last week we talked about foreshadowing how Jesus by telling people to back off of Mary's use of his burial perfume Was showing them that he would not need it that the tomb would be empty That he would rise from the dead and become our savior Something that he had been hinting at for a long time The sacrifice that Mary made was one that was made more meaningful when the disciples looked back and Found the Easter egg that Jesus had given them We also talked about the sacrifice of the father and the story of the prodigal son how he sacrificed his dignity and Raised his robes to run to the son that he was that was returning There's a lot of sacrifice in that parable the father sacrifice us his fatted calf as well And he sacrifices his wealth to his son by giving him his inheritance before he does When we started this lit in journey we talked about what it really means to sacrifice something in our lives for Lent as Jesus did in the wilderness Is giving up sweet tea or bread for 40 days really that much of a sacrifice We talked about what it would look like if we found something in our lives that really needed to go and to be sacrificed So I guess if there was a name for the sermon series as I look back on it it would be the meaning of sacrifice None of it was planned all of it was inspired Today's scripture is no different. We see the crowds sacrifice for Jesus The man and the deity that was coming to Jerusalem as their king who came in the name of the Lord their teacher their rabbi their friend Who is going to be sacrificed and make the ultimate Sacrifice and just a few short days Did you see what was missing from the gospel of Luke's account of the verse poem Sunday? There wasn't a donkey in this account only a cult There are all kinds of combinations of donkeys and colts in the gospels my favorite is Matthew as both I'm not an expert, but I am not sure how Jesus straddled a donkey and a cult What about now it paints an interesting picture Also, and this is one of my favorites There's not a palm in sight Other gospels include the palms Because they're easily available on the streets that land on the trees that land the streets But here in Luke we see nothing waived we see no trees damage the people were not committing Misdemeanors and vandalizing the trees of Jerusalem we see no palm lifted Or laid on the road before the king and Luke we only see cloaks used We see the two disciples that found the cult use their cloaks the cover His back for a place for Jesus to sit and And then the people along the route decided not to destroy the neighborhood trees But instead they use their cloaks to lay before Jesus This is another sacrifice that we see better through historical lens much like the robes of the prodigal father I have admitted before that I love the royals. I'm a princess so like so I like studying other princesses especially their jewels and their wardrobes Man do I love a good cloak or a cape I love a good cloak flourish I love it when the madadors use them to distract the bulls in Spain I love it when Jonathan Groff who plays King George III and the musical Hamilton uses his robes to suddenly make his character come alive I love it when I learn about the stitching on the coronation robes used across Europe and even in the marty grob parades here in this country But the history of the cloak is very different than just something to flourish Cloaks or often the blankets that people carried as they traveled The people that had been following Jesus took the one thing that they had to protect them as they slept off their backs and laid them on the ground before him as he rode by on that cult They were sacrificing a piece of their belongings that protected them time after time this lamp we have seen what others would sacrifice for those they love We are about to see this week exactly what Jesus would do for all of humanity because of the love he has for us We will see him put on trial We will see him march through the streets not as a hero but carrying the cross that he will be hung upon We see him beaten and stripped and pierced we see him we will see him crucified we will see him Sacrifice his earthly body and become the Lamb of God The blood that we will see him shed is because he loves us But before he sacrifices all of that for us and for those gathered along the road that day They would take off their cloaks and shout Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and glory and the highest heaven What do you have to lay at the feet of Jesus? What can we sacrifice to the hooves of the cult carrying the Savior? I Love that last stanza of the Oliver poem about the donkey I hope finally he felt brave. I hope finally he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him As he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped as he had to Forward Before we leave today it is time for us to start moving forward It is time for us to be brave It is time for us to take off our cloaks and bring our palms and lay them at the altar For the king who traveled the two roads to the cross The road of Huzanas and the road of sacrifice It's time for me to take off my black robe To take off the thing that symbolizes my calling and a visual representation of the blank slate of a come when I preach It is time for me to prepare myself for Easter and the white robe I will wear by being vulnerable and exposed to the hurt and death of Holy Week It is time for me to lay my cloak at the altar My congregation will be given a chance to bring their palms at the end of the service But there is another important reminder of that day that will happen on Sunday as well The light that is on the altar each week that represents the lot of Christ will be taken out of this place only to return on Easter morning After we sing our closing hymn on Sunday we will remove the light And then as people exit in silence they will be asked to bring their palms to the altar They'll be given the chance to either put them behind the rail and take time to kneel and prayer if they wish Or they can simply hand it to me and I will lay it on the altar with my robe These palms will then become the base of our ashes For next year's Ash Wednesday service When once again we come together in a time of sacrifice I hope this week that you take a moment to sit in silence To really feel the weight And the death and the destruction and the hurt and the pain of Holy week of good Friday Because I promise if you do When you walk back in the doors of your church on Easter morning It will be glorious Because in life and in death And in life beyond death God is with us We are not alone Thanks be to God Amen