Dear Friends,
The Polish poet Wistawa Szymborska wrote a poem entitled “Vietnam” that includes this line: “Are those your children?” “Yes.”
On the eve of Palm Sunday (as I type this) the chaos in our country (and around the world) can overwhelm us. I have heard many people around the country over the last few weeks (as I’ve traveled to the south and to the east) say some version of “I’m overwhelmed.”
No kidding.
What does someone do when it feels like the world overwhelms? One thing we do is gather for worship. This Sunday we will gather at 10am on Pine Street between 14th and 15th Streets, with other congregations from the blocks around us. We’ll be together. This is what it is good to do when we are overwhelmed. We will tell and re-enact the story (albeit with a donkey named “Pickles”).
If we leave it there, it is not enough, but it can give us the strength to do whatever is next, whatever we feel called to do. Last weekend hundreds of thousands of people around the country, including here in Boulder and in Denver and around the area, gathered to be with each other and try to find a way out of the chaos.
At dinner on Monday night someone told me it was their first ever protest!
What Jesus did when he felt overwhelmed is he rode a donkey into Jerusalem. He rode into the very place where he knew people were threatened by what he did and how he was doing it. He didn’t turn from the healing, speaking work he had. He did not change his message. He just kept going.
You too.
Keep tellin’ the Story,
Mike
Enjoy these scenes from Palm Sunday celebrations around the world.
Here are the four takeaways from this week’s Loop:
- Wistawa Szymborska wrote a poem that speaks to this moment.
- As on the first Palm Sunday, people filled the streets last weekend.
- What do we do when the world overwhelms? We come together.
- Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey – into the very face of his opposition.