A Prayer For Palm Sunday

A Prayer for Palm Sunday

The Sunday before Easter

O Jesus, who rode in on a donkey,

Subverting again

Our ways of the world,

May we forever praise Your name

As our children wave palm branches

To welcome You in—

A parade of chubby hands

Gripping branches,

A chorus of little voices giggling,

A procession of tiny feet skipping,

Welcoming us to say, “Hosanna!

Blessed is the One

Who comes in the name of the Lord!”

We give You all the glory

And all the honor,

And we praise Your name

With the joy of a little child

Eager to join a parade,

Excited to catch the eye of Mom or Dad

As they make their way in worship.

Let us lift our lives in praise to You.

Let us sing unashamed, like children,

Throwing off the insecurities

That come with age

And laying them at Your feet.

Let our lives be anthems of Your love

As we enter the chorus

Of all who have gone before us,

Lifting the works of our hands

And the words of our hearts

To You, O Lord.

Enter our hearts and home.

Enter our family and our very lives,

O Lord, even as we praise You.

We know we are capable

Of the unimaginable,

And we sit in the tension

Of what is to come.

Will You prepare our hearts, O Lord,

And the hearts of our children

To remember

That these branches we hold,

The ones we cut down,

Will be made into ashes?

Will You remind us that a life in You

Is a life that holds rhythms

Of jubilant celebration

And also sorrow and suffering?

O Lord, there is none but You.

We worship You on this day

And forevermore.

Matthew 21:8-9; Psalm 118