Holy Week and Palm Sunday
Holy Week is the final week of Lent. Some churches hold special
services every day of the week. Easter is observed in many Christian
churches as a time to commemorate and enact the suffering (Passion)
and death of Jesus through various observances and services of
worship. Holy Week recalls the events leading to Jesus death and
Resurrection. The different days in holy week are Palm Sunday, Maundy
Thursday, Good Friday and holy Sunday. On each of days there were
special events that happened. This is what each of the days in holy
week mean:
Palm Sundayobserves the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that
was marked by the crowds who were in Jerusalem for Passover waving
palm branches and proclaiming him as the messianic king. The story
about palm in the gospel is
"And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at
the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,
And saith unto them, go your ways into the village over against you:
and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied,
whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.
And if any man say's unto you, why do ye this? Say ye that the Lord
hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.
And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without
in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.
And certain of them that stood there said unto them, what do ye,
loosing the colt? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. And they brought the colt
to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. And
many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches
off the trees, and strawed them in the way.
And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying,
Hosanna; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
"I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage of their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on the altar. I am man."
be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Are we MEN! ! -- I ask you, 0 my brethren! are we MEN? Did our Creator make us to be slaves to dust and ashes like ourselves? Have we any other Master but Jesus Christ alone? Is he not their Master as well as ours? -- What right then, have we to obey and call any other Master, but Himself? How we could be so submissive to a gang of men, whom we cannot tell whether they are as good as ourselves or not, I never could conceive.
Alain de Botton, in his TED talk “Atheism 2.0”, identified various attributes from religions that he thinks atheism, the non-religious community, would do well to emulate. Of these attributes, one that stood out was how all religions, almost as a universal rule, each have a calendar by which believers adhere to. These calendars typically mark days, or even weeks, that carry some importance and meaning to followers of a given religion, and serves as a reminder for the values of which these religions stand for. For instance, the Christian calendar has a season of Lent, whereby Christians all over the world choose to give up worldly comforts and fast for a period a little longer than a month, as a time for self-reflection and penance to prepare for Easter. Members of these religions all across the world would be able to stay synchronized regardless of any geographical limitations using a unified calendar. According to Botton, having a calendar that is observed by all followers of the religion enables the religion to be “multinational, branded, and possessing an identity so they don't get lost” (de Botton). Therefore, it is unsurprising how the secular world have adapted various religious holidays and integrated it into their own culture.
the altar steps. After, they take a step to the side of the altar and
It was the night of the big revival, and Langston, a young boy going on the age of thirteen, was brought to his Aunt Reed’s church to see Jesus and be saved from sin. His aunt told him, “when you were saved from sin you saw a light, and something happened to you inside” (219). He believed her. When he was brought to church, his aunt directed him to the front row, where he sat calmly and patiently in the heat, waiting for the preacher to begin the service. The Preacher welcomed the “young lambs” (219) and started his sermon. Towards the end of his speech he invited the young children to the altar to be saved. At this point, Langston was confused because he was not seeing Jesus before him. All the young boys and girls sprang to their feet except Langston and another boy named Westley. They were the only two left on, what the parishioners of the church called, the “mourners’ bench” (218). Finally, Westley became very restless and decided that he was not going to sit on this bench anymore. Langston was left there all alone until
again, “Therefore, the God who made me must be good and all the good in me is
An instructive and stirring string of verses, this passage from the Bible holds great relevance not only for the Ancient Israelites to whom it was spoken, but also acts as a herald to Christians today. This passage forms part of Moses great oration; his instructive teaching, advice and counsel narrated to the second generation of Israelites who required redirection before moving forward into what God had for them. Similarly, it is also relevant for all Christians as we remember what our faithful, loving and powerful God has done in the past, and what he requires of us to move forward.
" The Lord God gave, and the Lord God hath taken away; blessed be the
Meaning, the followers of Jesus were taken up, and the remains were of the unsaved individuals.
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all my
1) but was mislead to believe he would be. He enticed the audience's attention to provoke an inquiry into the nature of his preservation. It is vital to comprehend that at the certain age of twelve and thirteen the adolescents are finding their place in their congregation; it becomes difficult for some to surrender to the pressure of the congregation. The “lambs” ( Hughes para. 3 ) were to be strengthen into the inclusion of the elder’s society, thus they would be accepting of their church and faith. Despite the fact Hughes needed physical credibility to believe in Jesus, he wanted to believe his aunt regarding his newcome salvation. He realized that in reality he was not saved, rather he was corrupted by the pressure from the congregation leading to the loss of
"That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,/And chastise with the valor of my
Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, gets its name from the practice, mostly in the Roman Catholic church, of putting ashes on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them that "man is but dust." Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, celebrates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Holy Week begins on this day. Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, is in memory of the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples. Good Friday remembers the crucifixion.