As I'm beginning to think about my sermon for Sunday, I am confronted again this year with the liturgical tension between Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday (two options, if you will, for the sixth Sunday of Lent).
My mother told me several years ago that she felt that Palm Sunday had been getting short shrift of late in churches, perhaps in her congregation in particular, begin edged out by Passion Sunday. They create very different feelings -- either the jubilation of Palm Sunday, shouting Hosanna, or the somber, sorrowful tone of the Passion. My mom said she figured preachers were trying to make sure the congregation experienced the passion story, and found that most people weren't coming to church during the week for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
I'm pretty sure my mother thought that people should come to church during Holy Week. You can't really "get" Easter without going through Good Friday. I love going through Holy Week, but I also know that not everyone is going to come to our Tenebrae service Thursday evening -- even though it's powerful and moving, many people just don't have the time. So, my dilemma is, how do we experience both in the course of one worship service, without doing disservice to either? Is that an impossible task?
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