Last June more than two million people lined the streets of Toronto and filled Nathan Philips Square to celebrate the championship victory of their beloved Raptors basketball team. Actually, there may have been thousands who had no interest in b-ball but love the energy of a parade. It's strange that a few months later those streets are largely quiet and "physical distancing" is enforced by law.
This is Palm/Passion Sunday, and the service for this day begins with a celebratory parade as Jesus enters Jerusalem and ends with the sombre reminder of Jesus' physical and social and even spiritual isolation on the way to the ultimate, cosmic loneliness of the cross. Some congregations include an extended participatory passion narrative today with the congregation shouting "crucify him, crucify him."
Of course, this service won't take place in the majority of congregations in this country because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be the first Palm/Passion Sunday since my ordination in 1980 where I don't participate in a service, and it may be the first of my lifetime. No procession of palms, no communion or eucharist for those congregations which include the sacrament on this day.
Perhaps this can be a more contemplative day for us as Christians, a time to be deeply aware of the abandonment that Jesus experienced. We headed out for an early cycle along the Belleville waterfront, and I stopped to speak to two policemen patrolling a public boat launch to ensure fishers weren't congregating there to head out on the Bay of Quinte. They assured me that cycling and walking are still permitted and even paddling from non-public launches.
We appreciated the relative solitude and on our way home we sang some of our favourite Palm Sunday hymns, including "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna", :"He came Riding on a Donkey", and surely the greatest of all "Ride on, Ride on, in Majesty." Ruth noted that while the beginning of Ride On fit the occasion it became ominous with "ride on in lowly pomp to die!" We did make it home safely.
For those of us who find Holy Week the most meaningful time in the Christian year this will be a challenge, and perhaps a source of grief. We can choose to connect our global crisis with the powerful story of Christ's passion and the profound truth that those particular events two thousand years ago continue to speak to our current sorrow and fear with a message of hope and love.
Are any of you feeling spiritually displaced this Palm Sunday? Can you find your way to a deeper spiritual meaning in the midst of isolation? Will you hum a hymn of two?
Read about the Lord God bird in today's Groundling blog
https://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-lord-god-bird-and-creation-gratitude.html
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