Entry into Jerusalem, by Pedro Orrente, c. 1620 via Wikimedia Commons
Gracious God
as we come together to celebrate
the entry into Jerusalem of the Prince of Peace,
we confess to you
that we are like the people who carpeted the road
and waved their branches,
but who understood so little of this king.
We are tempted to put our trust
in powerful Warrior-Messiahs of our day,
and find it hard to believe
that the way to life
passes through death.
We prefer protection to vulnerability,
control over our destiny rather than faith in God,
who brings life out of self-giving death.
We want our own life to continue,
and find it hard to look beyond our shores
to nations whose ways differ from ours,
but who, like us, need trust, love and life
instead of our mutual defensiveness and fear.
Forgive us and our hostile world,
for we find it hard to follow the Prince of Peace in faith,
or to trust God instead of weapons.
Set us and our world free, we pray. Amen.
Confession for Palm Sunday, Australia
__________________________
The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.
Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God for the Son of David!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Praise God in highest heaven!”
The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
prayer & verse 
May this prayer be fulfilled in us and in our Coptic brothers and sisters today.
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