For Palm Sunday, Rev. Cari preached on Matthew 21:1-11, referring also to the quoted material in that text from Zechariah 9:9-10. The sermon launched from the all-too-familiar feeling of dread that humans of every age feel … whether related to personal circumstances, or social or political ones.

She then spent some time in the text itself, wondering why, in such a moment when most of us would be more inclined to withdraw or hide, Jesus and his disciples mount a full-on political demonstration.

And finally she landed (with some help from the Very Rev. Peter Short) in the “cusp of Holy Week” theology of Christus Victor. Peter draws the distinction between “victory” and “winning” and notes “we belong to the victory of Christ when we stay focussed on our purpose, and when we are willing to lose everything for the sake of it.”

The final invitation of this sermon was to engage the community in staying awake, staying present, staying alert with Jesus, despite our dread, through the journey of Holy Week.