大象传媒

听

听

Introit:听 HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID 鈥� Victoria

听Opening:听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听听

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you; righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(Zechariah 9:9)

Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Welcome to Sunday Worship this Palm Sunday from the University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel. The Chapel is a sacred place at the heart of this ancient University, where all are welcome whatever religion or belief position they hold. It was built as a memorial to the 754 sons and 1 daughter of the University community who died in The Great War. Surrounding us, the crests of the Chancellors of the University since its foundation in 1451 remind us of our heritage, and depicted in stained glass windows the saints Ninian, Columba, Mungo and Andrew watch over us.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, during Lent we have been preparing by works of love and self-sacrifice for the celebration of our Lord鈥檚 death and resurrection.

Today we come together in a final act of this memorial, this corporate act of memory, joined with the Church throughout the world. Christ enters his own city to complete his work as our Saviour, to suffer, to die, and to rise again. Let us go with him in faith and love, so that, united with him in his sufferings, we may share his risen life

HYMN:听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 All glory, laud, and honour

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 to thee, Redeemer, King!

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 to whom the lips of children

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 made sweet hosannas ring.

听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Thou art the King of Israel,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 thou David鈥檚 royal Son,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 who in the Lord鈥檚 Name comest,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 the King and Blessed One. Refrain

听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 The people of the Hebrews

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 with palms before thee went;

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 our praise and prayer and anthems

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 before thee we present. Refrain

听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 To thee before thy passion

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 they sang their hymns of praise;

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 to thee, now high exalted,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听our melody we raise. Refrain听

We hear our first reading:听 from the Gospel according to St Luke:

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, 鈥楪o into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 鈥淲hy are you untying it?鈥� just say this: 鈥淭he Lord needs it.鈥� 鈥� So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, 鈥榃hy are you untying the colt?鈥� They said, 鈥楾he Lord needs it.鈥� Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥楤lessed is the king

听听 听听听听听听听听听听听听 who comes in the name of the Lord!

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Peace in heaven, 听听听and glory in the highest heaven!鈥�

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 鈥楾eacher, order your disciples to stop.鈥� He answered, 鈥業 tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.鈥�

听

HYMN:

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

Hear all the tribes hosanna cry;

O Saviour meek, your road pursue,

with palms and scattered garments strewn.

听

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die.

O Christ, your triumphs now begin

o鈥檈r captive death and conquered sin.

听

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

The hosts of angels in the sky

look down with sad and wondering eyes

to see the approaching sacrifice.

听

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die;

bow your meek head to mortal pain;

then take, O Christ, your power and reign.

听

From Passion Sunday with its sorrow, to Palm Sunday with its acclamation and celebration. Jesus moved up to Jerusalem. To be Jewish in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover is something special. To this day, there鈥檚 a phrase Jewish people often say 鈥淣ext Year in Jerusalem鈥� at the time of Yom Kippur and Passover. Now, Jesus, this young Jewish teacher with a reputation for healing, was 鈥榞oing up鈥� to Jerusalem. Following in the footsteps of thousands of pilgrims who had made the journey before him, singing the Songs of Ascent. 鈥淗osanna! Hosanna!鈥� cried the faces in the crowd.

Being part of a crowd of joyful, happy people can be an uplifting experience 鈥� think of those who lined The Mall to cheer the newly married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.听 Nearer to here, last year Glasgow Warriors rugby team won the Pro 12 Championship and had an open top bus procession into Glasgow鈥檚 George Square. The blue flags were waved, and smiling, happy faces in the crowd chanted 鈥淲e are Warriors! We are Warriors!鈥澨� Some people who did not know why the crowd had gathered or didn鈥檛 care hurried on to their business, the shops, their homes 鈥� much as people did in the ordinariness of Palm Sunday.

The University of Glasgow sits on Gilmorehill overlooking the city. People still speak of 鈥榞oing up鈥� to the University. Time at university can be remembered as a special place in the lives of those fortunate enough to be there. Each year more than 130 couples return to get married in this Chapel. When students graduate, the meaning is also understood as 鈥榞oing up鈥�. Graduation is a time of celebration and acclamation.听

But for some, as with Jesus on Palm Sunday, there is in the midst of all the celebrations an accompanying, unspoken sorrow. Perhaps someone special is missing. And in both our times of joy and times of sorrow, we may be struck by how unconcernedly the world just moves on.听 The hardest part of my job is visiting a family when a student or member of staff has died or has taken seriously ill. I go unannounced to the family鈥檚 home, otherwise it becomes a visitation, rather than a genuine visit to offer our condolences and whatever support we can. For that family, their world has stopped, but outside it just moves on with seeming indifference. A wise academic once said, when making visits in these deeply sad times you had to be ready to accept the possibility of rejection. True, but the purpose is not to seek approval, but simply to the face of the University in caring and supporting our own in times of distress.

It鈥檚 there, in these times of sorrow and of joy, the words of the motto of the University become real 鈥� 鈥淭he Way, The Truth, the Life鈥�.听 The answer of Jesus to Thomas, who despite his questions and doubts remained there for and with Jesus. A friendly face in a hostile crowd.听

What we can do, in times of joy or sorrow, indeed all we鈥檙e asked to do, is to be there for each other. Not to stop the world, but to be a presence in each other鈥檚 lives. To become more than a face in the crowd.听

听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听听God of all,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 you gave your only-begotten Son to take the form of a servant
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 and to be obedient even to death on a cross.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Give us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 that, sharing in his humility,
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 we may come to be with him in his glory,
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 one God, now and forever.

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 All:听听听听听听听听听 Amen

HYMN:听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Open are the gifts of God,听听听听听听听听听听 (CH4 390, Gibbons Song 13)

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 gifts of love to mind and sense;

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 hidden is love鈥檚 agony,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 love鈥檚 endeavour, love鈥檚 expense.

听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Drained is love in making full,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 bound in setting others free,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 poor in making many rich,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 weak in giving power to be.

听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Therefore he who shows us God

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 helpless hangs upon the tree;

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 and the nails and crown of thorns

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 tell of what God鈥檚 love must be.

听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Here is God: no monarch he,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 throned in easy state to reign;

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 here is God, whose arms of love

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 aching, spent, the world sustain.

A Reading from the passion of Christ according to Luke:

Luke:

They brought Jesus before Pilate, and began to accuse him, saying,

Priests:

We found this man perverting our nation,

forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor,

and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.

Luke:

Pilate asked him,

Pilate:

Luke:

Jesus:

Are you the king of the Jews?

He answered
You say so.

Hagios ho theos, hagios ischiros, hagios athanatos, eleison himas

Luke:

Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them,

Pilate:

You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; but I have not found him guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.

Luke:

Then they all shouted out together,

Crowd:

Away with this fellow!听 Crucify, crucify him!

Luke:

So Pilate released the man they asked for and handed Jesus over as they wished.

Hagios ho theos, hagios ischiros, hagios athanatos, eleison himas听

Luke:

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said,

Jesus:

Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.

Hagios ho theos, hagios ischiros, hagios athanatos, eleison himas听

Luke:

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him. 鈥� But the other rebuked him, saying:

Criminal:

We indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.

Luke:

Then he said,

Criminal:

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Luke:

Jesus replied,

Jesus:

Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.

听Hagios ho theos, hagios ischiros, hagios athanatos, eleison himas

听Luke:

听It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun鈥檚 light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said,

Jesus:听

听Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

Luke:

Having said this, he breathed his last.

Casals 鈥� O vos omnes

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
听听听you have taken off my sackcloth
听听听and clothed me with joy鈥� . (Psalm 30: 11)

听

As we move into Holy Week, these words from Psalm 30 seem to be stood on their head by what is happening to Jesus.听 The great acclamations of Palm Sunday, turned to dust, to betrayal, to hatred and to death.听 The joy of those crowds who welcomed Jesus 鈥� lost now in the mocking of the crowd around the cross, of the criminal crucified with Christ.听 Palm Sunday seemed to be a happy ending 鈥� but it was not the end.听 The joy turns to pain, the jubilation to dismay and anger.听 The cries of welcome to the Son of David become demands for his death, shouts of 鈥淐rucify him!鈥澨� No longer Hosanna, but sorrow.听 鈥淥 all you who walk by on the road, look carefully and see: if there be any sorrow like my sorrow,鈥� in the words of the anthem we have just heard.

听We would not have reacted that way, we might think.听 But I wonder.听 Surely many of those people who celebrated the coming of Jesus the Messiah were just people like you and me, people who had worked out ways which helped them to find meaning in their lives and who sought to live out their faith, their values, in integrity.听 People who believed strongly in the Messiah, who were carried and sustained and uplifted by that hope.听 And then Jesus came, and wanted to change the ways they had been doing things, change the Temple, ask questions about how they understood what they believed.听 And they didn鈥檛 like that.

听If we allow them to, the events of Holy Week will confront us with our own expectations of life and faith, our own hopes, our fears and our doubts; show us where we have had faith in ourselves, our own structures, instead of in God, and call us to change, to a new understanding of how God works in our lives.

It might take us to the cross too.听 鈥淏e our hope / in our stations / of forsakenness,鈥� prays the German poet Hildegard Nies.听 Be our hope 鈥渋n our waiting rooms of anxiety / in our suburbs of desolation.鈥澨� And that is what the cross promises us.听 The cross, Christ crucified, is for some a stumbling-block, for others foolishness, as St Paul puts it, 鈥渂ut to those who are called 鈥� the power of God and the wisdom of God.鈥澨� Christ, who rejoices with us when we rejoice; Christ crucified who, when our lives are filled with mourning, with pain, is there with us, accompanying us, sustaining us, with us.听 This is what Holy Week offers us: the way to the cross, a way with Christ which reminds us that he is present with us in pain, in grief as well as in joy and rejoicing.听 And a way with Christ who calls us to follow him into those places, that we might not just know him with us in our dark times, but stand with others in their dark times too.听

HYMN:

When God Almighty came to earth

He took the pain of Jesus鈥� birth,

He took the flight of refugee,

And whispered, 鈥淗umbly follow me.鈥�

听

When God Almighty met his folk,

Of peace and truth he boldly spoke

To set the slave and tyrant free,

And whispered, 鈥淗umbly follow me.鈥�

听

When God Almighty took his place

To save the sometimes human race,

He took it boldly on a tree,

And whispered, 鈥淗umbly follow me.鈥�

听

When God Almighty comes again,

He鈥檒l meet us incognito as then;

And though no words may voice his plea,

He鈥檒l whisper, 鈥淎re you following me?鈥�

听

Let us pray to God our Father,

who loved the world so much that he sent his only Son

to give us life:

听

For those who make laws, interpret them, and administer them,

that our common life may be ordered in justice and mercy,

let us pray to the Lord.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Lord, have mercy.

听

For those who make so many places in the world a

battleground,

And for those who have the courage to work for justice and peace,

let us pray to the Lord.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Lord, have mercy.

听

For those in the darkness and agony of isolation and grief,

and for those who, weighed down with hardship, failure, or sorrow,

are lonely or afraid,

that they may find support and encouragement,

let us pray to the Lord.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Lord, have mercy.

听

For those who have lost their way in their life, that they may find new

direction,

let us pray to the Lord.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Lord, have mercy.

听

That we, with those who have died,

may be received with mercy,

let us pray to the Lord.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Lord, have mercy.

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听

听听听听听听听听听 听Lord of the Church,

All:听听听听听听听听听 hear our prayer,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 and make us one in heart and mind

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 to serve you in Christ our Lord.

Amen

We pray the Glasgow University prayer:

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast said "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life" we pray Thee: suffer us not to stray from Thee, Who art the Way, nor to distrust Thee, Who art the Truth, nor to rest in any other thing than Thee, Who art the Life.听 Teach us by Thy Holy Spirit what to believe, what to do, and wherein to find our rest.听 For Thine own name鈥檚 sake we ask it.听 Amen

Let us pray together as Christ has taught us:

听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听Our Father, which art in heaven,

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 hallowed be thy name;

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 thy kingdom come;

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 thy will be done,

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 in earth as it is in heaven.

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Give us this day our daily bread.

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 And forgive us our trespasses,

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 as we forgive them that trespass against us.

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 And lead us not into temptation;

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 but deliver us from evil.

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 For thine is the kingdom,

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 the power and the glory,

听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听 for ever and ever.听

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Amen.

HYMN:

My song is love unknown,

my Saviour鈥檚 love to me,

love to the loveless shown

that they might lovely be.

O who am I

that for my sake

my Lord should take

frail flesh and die?

听

Sometimes they strew his way,

and his strong praises sing,

resounding all the day

hosannas to their King.

听

Then 鈥淐rucify!鈥�

is all their breath,

and for his death

they thirst and cry.

听

Why, what hath my Lord done?

What makes this rage and spite?

He made the lame to run,

he gave the blind their sight.

Sweet injuries!

Yet they at these

themselves displease,

and 鈥檊ainst him rise.

听

They rise, and needs will have

my dear Lord made away;

a murderer they save,

the Prince of Life they slay.

Yet steadfast he

to suffering goes,

that he his foes

from thence might free.

听

Here might I stay and sing,听听听

no story so divine:

never was love, dear King,

never was grief like thine.

This is my friend,

in whose sweet praise

I all my days

could gladly spend.

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 May the Father,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 who so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 bring you by faith to his eternal life.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Amen.

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听

听听听听听听听听听听 May Christ,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 who accepted the cup of sacrifice

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 in obedience to the Father鈥檚 will,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 keep you steadfast as you walk with him the way of his cross.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Amen.

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 May the Spirit,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 who strengthens us to suffer with Christ

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 that we may share his glory,

听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 set your minds on life and peace.

All:听听听听听听听听听 Amen.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you, and all those you love, now and forever.听听

Sung Amen (O radiant dawn, James MacMillan)

Organ Voluntary

听

听