Parades and processionals, motorcades and March Madnesses, stadiums and stars (celestial & cinematic), have always drawn the masses, eager to interrupt daily routines to see or participate in whatever the personality/event. From rose-covered floats in SoCal to red carpet glitterati to sweat-soaked athletes, the allure never ends. We love to be awed, to stand agape in amazement, to thrill to acrobatic flights through the air, to ride the scariest rollercoaster ever, to bungee jump off cliffs (well, not this writer). Adrenaline is to blame, I think, because extremes can create a kind of natural high which, for some, is insatiable.
But behind the scenes of each of these spectacles is another story all together. I’ve never been on a parade committee, but the decorating, clearing the route, providing security, publicizing, fundraising, are all the less than glamorous pieces of the whole. For stadium events, ordering enough beer, hot dogs, popcorn and peanuts, hiring security, staffing, ticket controlling, and obvious cleanup crews, these, too, are the unsung jobs needed. And the awards night for the movie set, think of all the poor fashion designers who need to come up with the latest and greatest (and weirdest) for their strutting, posing, camera-hungry clients. I wonder how many limo drivers are on duty for nights like that. And just thinking of being up in that audiovisual booth is enough to keep me up past 9PM.
Every event requires support people to get things ready and to avoid glitches. The Passover in Jerusalem was no different. One of the biggest feast days in Judaism, Passover was (and is) anticipated with great joy. However, when Jesus came to Jerusalem for the feast that fateful time, he was, in the eyes of many, a glitch, a time-sensitive glitch, a major glitch. Much secretive skullduggery was involved in seeking to ‘remove’ him. For other factions, his arrival was highly welcomed and feted, attended by grandiose hopes of his plans for Rome. For Jesus, this arrival was his ministry’s pinnacle, the most important goal of the Father’s mission of love which Jesus was carrying out in total adoration, complete obedience.
As we celebrate Palm Sunday tomorrow, we acknowledge these three very different perspectives, very different heart postures. It’s the day that ushers in Holy Week, the epitome of the sad-bright season of Lent. Behind the shouting and palm-waving, there’s gravitas, an intense, dark and brooding soundtrack building to a crescendo in the climactic scene of a melodrama. Do we cheer? Yes. Do we mourn? Yes. Sad-bright. Looking forward to seeing all you cheering/mourning friends tomorrow at 10 AM, 3 PM UK. PD
Don graduated from Regent University in 1988 and moved to France for seven years, coming back to the US briefly to marry Sue in 1990. The work in France included working in a Christian School and helping plant a church before returning in 1995. He’s been pastor of Peninsula Vineyard since 1999. He enjoys counseling, especially married couples, traveling back to France (with Sue), reading, doing Sudoku puzzles and sleuthing out good, dark chocolate. Don serves as the senior pastor of the Vineyard Church Peninsula, in Newport News, Virginia.