Between the Hosannas and Hallelujahs

Jesus, we walk again with you
Cheerful palms waving
Music full of Hosannas
Bells and children choirs add light to the day
Even as we read the Passion account,
it’s like we don’t hear it.
Even “Happy Easters” on the way out of worship
After singing “Were You There?”
… without a verse about resurrection
Forgetting(?), like the crowds
That the stones would shake
Not with praise, but horror
At your last breath
The God of life, dead on the cross.

Jesus, help me to pause and hear
between the Hosannas and Hallelujahs
the tears of a suffering God
You, who love us enough
to give us yourself
in bread and wine
in water poured over feet
kneeling in service
in love passionately given … betrayed with a kiss.

Jesus, help me to pause and hear
between the Hosannas and Hallelujahs
your presence in the suffering world
praying for redemption
crying with those who suffer
echoing the agony of the silence of God
offering forgiveness for those of us
who just don’t get it
Breathing your last like all of us will.
Will we commend our spirits, too?
Will You, O God, take them?

Jesus, help me to pause and hear
between the Hosannas and Hallelujahs
the silence of the tomb
the darkness of the dawn
the quiet insistence of resurrection
the terror of a world turned upside down
and the surprise of it all.

Between the Hosannas and Hallelujahs
is where I live, Jesus.
In this world where the only certainties are death and taxes
… and maybe laundry or the second law of thermodynamics
Help me to pause during this Holy Week
to see you there and here
between the hosannas and hallelujahs
so that death may not be so certain any more
but love be more certain than ever.
Amen