Homily, March 28, 2010                                                                             
Palm Sunday
Rev. Greg Sakowicz                                                                                 

             We have together listened to and experienced the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ-beautifully, powerfully and intensely reenacted by our young people! Why tell the story again?  I've heard it before!!  But maybe this Holy Week can be different from previous Holy Weeks because I'm not the same person. But the world doesn't stop. Everything goes on- the regular TV programs, paying the bills, the regular work schedule, income tax… Looking for a job.  So if I want this to be a "holy week" what do I do?  I decide.

Surrender is a dirty word in our controlled-focused culture. 

Surrender smacks of defeat and failure.  Surrender is to give up, to admit that we have made a mess of things, and letting go of our dreams and wants.  Only losers surrender.  But true surrender is not giving up.  The Latin root of our English word "surrender"  means "to give back."  In surrendering, we give back to God what is not ours, we entrust back to God the ultimate "control" of our lives. 

The Shack, a bestselling novel by William Paul Young attempts to put "flesh" on the Trinity.   I would recommend this book.  The book raises three powerful themes:

(1)  God is interested in our lives.
(2)  We can encounter God in our pain.  I also will add suffering is not an option in life, but bitterness and misery remain choices.
(3)   Forgiveness is possible.

There is darkness in Holy Week as there is often darkness in our lives because of our lives.

Our Holy Week Journey has begun.  Please give yourself permission to come tomorrow night at  7:30 p.m. for our Communal Reconciliation Service- celebrate God's love, mercy and forgiveness.  We are all sinners.  We are all in need of God's forgiveness—work, shopping and meetings can wait an extra day. 

Make Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening a priority.  We all find the time to do those thing we want to do. 

Make Holy Week—Holy this year.

Lord, help me to see your peace in my turmoil, your compassion in my sorrow and your forgiveness in my weaknesses.