Palm Sunday: The Call to Public Witness and Inclusion

Palm Sunday opens with palms, singing, and a call to embodied worship. An ordination on Palm Sunday frames a personal history of LGBTQIA+ inclusion, tracing denominational milestones—official recognition, same-sex marriage, and eventual full welcome—while noting how prophetic public witness reshaped church life and membership. The triumphal entry in Mark provides the sermon’s central image: Jesus rides a colt into Jerusalem, the crowd spreads cloaks and branches, and the scene becomes an enactment of public faith during Passover, a festival steeped in questions of power and liberation. The crowd’s hosanna functions as both praise and plaintive plea, a public cry for salvation that carries longing and vulnerability.

The account emphasizes the surprising shape of Jesus’ authority: royal language paired with humble means, a king whose reign shows itself in justice, mercy, truth, service, love, and hope rather than worldly power. Reformed theology enters the conversation with a reminder that civil life falls under God’s concern and that authority must serve the common good. Public witness appears in many forms—processions, protests, teachers claiming the worth of every child, and culturally resonant acts like Fred Rogers’ simple towel-drying—each example showing courage, tenderness, and the willingness to act on convictions already clear enough in the gospel.

Palm Sunday functions as the opening act of Holy Week: the parade leads into table fellowship, prayer in Gethsemane, trial, and the cross, revealing a king who accepts suffering and still holds authority. The Good News combines deliverance from death with a demonstration of how to live, love, and bear witness in the world. Practical details for the week follow—Maundy Thursday dinner-service, Good Friday noon worship, Easter services and children’s singing—closing with a benediction that frames communal belonging as ongoing public witness to God’s promised kingdom.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Public witness embodies gospel truth Public actions make theological convictions visible and accountable. When people bring faith into public spaces—through protest, service, or worship—they translate belief into social reality and force the community to confront what it truly values. Such witness requires courage because it exposes both hope and unmet longing. [43:30]
• 2. Authority expressed through service and mercy True leadership in the gospel avoids domination and instead practices justice, mercy, and truth. Authority that serves heals institutions and cultivates trust rather than fear, modeling a politics that honors human dignity. Choosing this way reshapes civic life toward the common good and resists idolatries of power. [41:37]
• 3. Hosanna as plea and proclamation “Hosanna” carries both urgent need and prophetic hope: a cry for salvation that also names God’s coming reign. That paradox invites honest lament alongside confident longing, grounding worship in the real ache of the world. Embracing both tones keeps witness tender and realistic. [41:52]
• 4. Love labeled as political Expanding love to include those historically excluded often becomes politicized because it threatens entrenched boundaries. Insisting that every child, neighbor, or stranger deserves care names a moral commitment that requires public courage. Such claims ask communities to choose between habitual exclusion and costly inclusion. [45:21]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [05:47] - Palm Sunday Celebration
• [33:30] - Opening Prayer
• [34:09] - Ordination Memory
• [36:42] - Denominational Milestones
• [38:42] - Triumphal Entry Context
• [39:30] - The Colt and the Crowd
• [40:51] - Authority and Public Life
• [43:30] - Public Witness Today
• [45:39] - Fred Rogers Example
• [47:34] - The King Revealed
• [49:44] - Good News and Kingdom Promise
• [61:05] - Holy Week Announcements
• [66:54] - Benediction and Sending

Bible reading: Mark 11:1-10 (ESV)
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Observation questions

1. What specific instructions did Jesus give his disciples before entering Jerusalem, and what does this detail reveal about the nature of his entry?
2. What two items did the crowd use to prepare the way for Jesus, and what might these common items symbolize about the kind of welcome they were giving?
3. The crowd shouts "Hosanna!" which is translated "Save us!" What does this reveal about the crowd's immediate need, even as they proclaim Jesus as the coming king? [41:52]
4. The sermon mentions that this event took place during the Passover festival. What significance does this timing add to the crowd's actions and cries? [39:46]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus chose to ride a colt instead of a horse. What does this choice communicate about the type of authority and kingdom he was representing?
2. The crowd’s act of spreading cloaks and branches on the road was a public, embodied act of faith. Why is the physical, public nature of this witness so significant, especially during a festival about liberation? [39:30]
3. The word "Hosanna" functions as both a cry of praise and a plea for help. How can these two seemingly different things—worship and lament—exist together in a single moment?
4. The sermon connects public witness to "acting on what we believe the gospel has already made clear enough." [43:30] What are some examples from history, or even recent events, where the church acted publicly on a gospel truth before there was universal agreement?

Application questions

1. Public witness "makes theological convictions visible and accountable." [43:30] What is one conviction you hold from the gospel that you feel is important to make visible in your community? What is one small, tangible way you could begin to embody that conviction this week?
2. Authority in the gospel is expressed through "justice, mercy, truth, service, love, and hope rather than worldly power." [41:37] Where in your life (work, family, community) do you hold some form of authority or influence? How can you exercise that authority this week in a way that serves others and cultivates trust?
3. "Hosanna" carries both "urgent need and prophetic hope." [41:52] What is one honest cry of "Save us!" that you are holding for yourself, your loved ones, or the world right now? How can you also hold onto the "prophetic hope" that God is bringing a kingdom in response to that cry?
4. "Love gets labeled as political because love has expanded to include those that it has excluded." [45:21] Who is someone in your orbit—a neighbor, coworker, or family member—who has been historically excluded or overlooked? What is one practical, perhaps counter-cultural, act of love you could extend to them to show they are worthy of care?
5. Public witness can look like a large protest, but it can also look like "Fred Rogers sharing a pool and a towel." [46:28] What is one simple, tender, and courageous act you could do in your daily life to publicly embody the inclusive love of Christ?
6. The Palm Sunday procession was just the beginning of a week that led to the cross. How does knowing that public witness can be costly—it might lead to misunderstanding or even suffering—shape the way we prepare to live out our faith openly?
7. The benediction sent the congregation out with the words, "our lives become public witness." [01:06:54] As you go about your routine this week—at the grocery store, in school pickup lines, at work—how can you see your ordinary life as an opportunity for public witness? What does it mean to belong to Christ in all of those spaces?