This is an excerpt from the free new resource, Our Certain Hope: Prayers for Lent and Easter. Receive the full prayer book through Carmen’s monthly newsletter, Keeping up with Carmen.
“Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the Highest!”
O Lord, how the people in the streets of Jerusalem desired on this day to put a crown on Your head and a scepter in Your hand. How they desired to enthrone You in a palace and follow You into battle against the Roman Empire. O how, Lord Jesus, they misunderstood Your Kingdom and You, their God and King.
We praise and thank You Lord, that on this Palm Sunday we celebrate the One who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the one whom You sent for all nations and all people, the One whose throne is eternal in the heavens and whose kingdom is without end. We humbly acknowledge that even as this Holy Week begins with a parade into Jerusalem, it ends with a funeral march to Calvary.
O God, forgive us for wanting to glide easily from Palm Sunday to Easter. Forgive us for not wanting to follow Your Son through the stages of humiliation, brutality, suffering and death that lie between here and there.
Prepare us Lord for the days and events which are ahead. Keep us ever mindful of the undying love You have for all humanity, and for the future filled with the hope you have for each one of us.
Turn our eyes upon Jesus, who indeed is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, and set our hearts on Him as He does for us what we could not do for ourselves – offer You a living sacrifice that is truly holy and acceptable in Your sight.
In His perfect name we pray. Amen
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were
Colossians 1:15
created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
