Prayer and Songs for Palm Sunday: Ride on to die – the contrast between exuberance and sorrow

Palm Sunday 2009 

I spent some time last night creating a Holy Week playlist in iTunes.  I have an extensive collection of contemporary Christian music (CCM) and worship music and while I greatly enjoy classic church music and hymns, it was fun last night to pull out some of the “classic CCM” tunes I used to listen to during Holy Week when I was in high school and college.

Below you’ll find four CCM classics and one slightly more recent worship song that I find best express the contrasts  of Palm Sunday – the exuberant joy and excitement of the crowd as Jesus entered Jerusalem, the heart cry of longing for a Redeemer and the deep shadow and sorrow that lies over the day as Jesus knowingly “rides on to die.”  But first, a prayer:

A Prayer for Palm Sunday (from the IMBY.net Lenten Devotional blog)

I worship you Lord! You did not enter your holy city Jerusalem on the back of a war horse, but humbly and on a donkey. You knew that you were surrounded by murderers, yet you came in peace, and by your sacrifice you would utterly conquer death before the week had passed. You, oh Lord, are blessed and worthy of my praise. You have saved your people. I say, “you are my king!” … I long to live in the city where you sit on the throne! Establish your Kingdom, so that your people can live in peace. Jesus, I bow before you, and I will sing your praises until your Kingdom comes and is established, and forever after.

Music:

Sandi Patti:  Hosanna (from her 1986 album Was it a Morning Like This) Listen Online, iTunes link

First Call:  Messiah (from their 1986 album Undivided)  Listen Online, iTunes link

Dan Schutte:  Hosanna to the Son of David (from his 1989 album Always & Everywhere) Listen Online  iTunes link

Fernando Ortega:  Come Oh Redeemer Come (from his 1999 EP Give Me Jesus) Listen Online (but ignore the video!);   iTunes link

Michael Card: Ride on to Die (from his 1983 album Known by the Scars – an album focused soley on Christ’s passion in Holy Week.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) Listen Online, iTunes link

If my internet connection is good enough, I’ll hope to post a variety of worship songs – including some classic choral music too – each day of Holy Week, in addition to daily prayers and reflections.

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Note: All of these songs are available for download at iTunes. 

Lent Prayers: A Litany of Humility

From our archives: originally posted Palm Sunday 2007

A Litany of Humility
Filed under: Lent 2007, Lent Prayers — Karen B.

This prayer strikes me as being very appropriate for Holy Week as we think of Jesus’ unorthodox entry in Jerusalem on a donkey, his overturning the tables of the moneychangers, his praise of Mary who annointed his feet with precious ointment, his willingness to face arrest, trial and death without resistance or self-defense, above all His submission to His Father’s will. May the Father increase in us the humility of Christ as we mediate on Christ’s sufferings this week.

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart,
Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected,
Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

–Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930)
From the Churchyear.net site

Matthew 21:12-16

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. (Matthew 21:12)
      Jesus, please come into the life of the Episcopal Church and drive from it those who corrupt it, or better yet, bring them to repentance and conversion.

And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Matthew 21:13)
      Holy Spirit, help the leaders and teachers of the Episcopal Church see the true nature of what they are doing to the church. Please restore to the Episcopal Church a common life of prayer.

Then the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. (Matthew 21:14)
      Father, please let all the parishes of this diocese become places where the blind and the lame can come for healing by your son.

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant (Matthew 21:15)
      Jesus, please help us to praise you whenever and wherever we should.

and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise’?” (Matthew 21:16)
      Holy Spirit, please help us raise up a generation of children who praise Jesus and worship him. Thank you.

Palm Sunday: 24, 29; Zech. 9:9-12; 1 Timothy 6:12-16; Zechariah 12:9-11, 13:1,7-9; Matthew 21:12-17
Monday: 51:1-18(19-20); Jeremiah 12:1-16; Philippians 3:1-14; John 12:9-19

Albany Intercessor

PRAYER TABLE REPORT

Saturday, April 4, 2009; at Christ Church in Schenectady. Torre Bissell and Don Foust, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Not many people at first this morning and then a flood. It was cold and windy — weather is no indicator of how many people will come for prayer.
+–indicates received wooden cross made by Dennis Adams of North Carolina.

+Yusuf — young man walking two dogs

(Man rushing to work)

Linda — a regular — “for me children back home [in Guyana]” prayed for protection and provision and for opportunities to visit her children

[Work day was going on around us at Christ Church -- they found a bag of crack on the side of the church.]

Pat — a regular — prayed for her family for good health and wisdom for Pat.

Lorraine — Christ Church parish administrator — prayed for clearing of lungs of pneumonia

+Ashley — prayed for her son Anemashon and for a better job for her [she works at a burger place]

+Katie and +Jen — teenage or early twenties girls — “right now we are homeless” thrown out of place yesterday

+Shawn — “good luck” prayed for protection and provision

+Keith — “for life” prayed for Holy Spirit to fill him and for a close walk with Jesus.

+Lisa and +Michelle [her daughter] — just moved into the former crack house next door to Christ Church.

+Aata

+Kelsey, +Angela, and +Elizabeth [teenage sisters] — “for my father, he’s away right now”

+Issa and +Belinda [daughter] — “for my cat, my ex-boyfriend through him out on the street.” “I don’t like him any more but prayer for my ex-boyfriend too.”

Jim — a regular — prayed for comfort over the death of his son Robert.

(unknown lady) — while we were praying for someone else, Dan Popa who was on the work party crew at Christ Church talked with a woman who said she couldn’t receive prayer, “because I am a sinner.” Dan invited her to church and she couldn’t come to church, “because I am a sinner.”

+Lassiter — “for world peace and an end to violence” we also prayed with him for peace in Hamilton Hill and the streets of Schenectady and an end to violence there.

Anthony (rushing by) — “Pray for me as I’m walking down the street.”

+Winette and +Khadijah [daughter] — “that my strength will be built up”

+Kathleen (rushing by)

Albany Intercessor