Rev. Cari’s sermon for Palm Sunday was based on the story of Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem, as it is found in Mark 11:1-11.

In this sermon, she explodes the notion we have somehow inherited, that “Hosanna” means “Hooray!” and restores its true meaning, which is actually, “Save us!”

In the sermon, she doesn’t deny our need to praise God, from whom all blessings flow. She also claims the opportunity to lament our losses, and to seek the intervention of a leader who can protect us.

In a world that “lives by the sword” and in a church that has inherited a distorted gospel based on the myth of redemptive violence, we need to find our way back through humility to Jesus’ self-emptying way.

She quotes a Steve Garnaas-Holmes Palm Sunday poem which can be found on his website.