Sunday 29th March 2026 Palm Sunday
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
PALM SUNDAY A
29th March 2026
A short act of worship and daily devotions
Opening prayers
Lord of light,
Shine into the midst of this day,
Bring me life and light and hope and joy as I worship you, I pray.
Pause
Today, I thank you for your enduring love and your ongoing presence in my life, even when it can all just feel too much sometimes.
O God, My God, You are good;
your love endures forever.
Today, I give thanks for those closest to me. For the overwhelming love I feel for them and for the tenderness of their pain and joy in my heart.
O God, My God, You are good;
your love endures forever.
Today, I give thanks for the differences between myself and my neighbour. For the lessons I can learn and the richness of the world I can begin to understand through one another.
O God, My God, You are good;
your love endures forever. Amen.
You may now wish to say the Lord’s Prayer in a version or translation with which you are familiar
Reading: Matthew 21:1-11 – Click for reading
Responding to the reading
Jesus enters Jerusalem not on a warhorse, not with soldiers, not with spectacle, but on a borrowed donkey.
The crowds shout ‘Hosanna!’ They spread cloaks and branches on the road. There is energy, hope, and political expectation in the air. Jerusalem is buzzing. A king is arriving.
But not the kind of king they expected.
In a world shaped by empire, where power rides tall and armed, Jesus chooses humility. In a culture hungry for revolution, he brings a different kind of kingdom: one rooted not in domination but in peace. Not in crushing enemies, but in transforming hearts. This is not accidental. It is deliberate, prophetic, embodied theology.
For those of us walking a liberal and justice-seeking path of faith, this moment is deeply challenging. We long for change. We long for systems to shift, for injustice to end. Jesus reminds us that the means matter as much as the ends. The kingdom he brings does not mirror the violence or ego of the systems it resists.
The crowd cries ‘Hosanna!’ – which means ‘Save us!’ It is both praise and protest. Both worship and plea.
But here is the tension: the same crowd that shouts ‘Hosanna’ will, days later, shout ‘Crucify.’ Excitement is easy. Sustained discipleship is harder. Welcoming a humble king requires more than waving branches: it requires walking the path he walks.
So today, ask yourself:
What kind of king am I truly welcoming into my life?
Do I want transformation that looks like power and control, or transformation that looks like humility and love?
Where am I being invited to lay down my own ‘cloak,’ my ego, my certainty, my need to win, in order to follow the Prince of Peace?
Discipleship means choosing the donkey over the warhorse. It means trusting that gentleness is not weakness, and that love is not naïve. It means believing that the kingdom of God grows not through force, but through courage rooted in compassion.
As we walk this story again, may we not only cheer from the roadside. May we follow.
May we welcome the kind of king who reshapes power, redefines greatness, and calls us into a revolution of mercy.
Hymn / Song 277 STF – My song is love unknown – YouTube
Blessing
Ride on, ride on to face the challenges of this holy and painful week,
Ride on to meet them, knowing Christ is alongside, within and before you,
Ride on to seek to challenge, transform and love the world, through the blessing of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
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Prayers and Prayer Pointers For This Week
Monday 30th March
Today, at the start of Holy Week, take a moment to pause, to reflect on the story of Jesus’ work in this week. It is a strange week, a challenging week, with many rollercoasters and much pain.
If you don’t know the story that well, then perhaps you might choose to re-read the final few chapters of one or more of the gospels over this week, refamiliarise yourself on their different takes of this conclusion to the physical life of the Jesus story as received in the Bible.
Tuesday 31st March
Take a moment to look in the mirror today.
Ask God to reveal to you what part you should play in their plan. What are your special gifts and graces? What in particular might you do today that would show God’s love to others?
Wednesday 1st April
Today is known in lots of parts of the world as ‘April’s Fools’ Day
In 1 Corinthians 4:10, Paul writes, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ."
Today, may your foolishness for Christ allow you to take a radical action, to do something out of your comfort zone, to reach across a boundary.
Pray about what thoughts or ideas occur to you, and maybe talk to someone else about it.
Thursday 2nd April
Today is Maundy Thursday, the day when the Christian tradition remembers the Last Supper – the meal Jesus ate with his disciples before his death.
As you eat today, you might like to use these moments as a chance to pray for those close to you: those you are sharing the meal with (why not invite someone to join you if you can?), or those on your mind this day. Pray for them, for their futures, for the difficult choices they must face.
You might also like to think of someone who you feel has betrayed you, let you down, or hurt you. Can you hold that painful situation in the light of God’s healing, forgiving grace? How does praying into that situation shape or change how you view them?
Friday 3rd April
Today is Good Friday, the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus.
Today, perhaps your prayers might be for all who grieve, as Mary, mother of Christ, does in the gospel stories. In a world where so many young lives are lost, and so much bereavement reaches so many of us, offer a simple prayer for those in grief.
Comfort, O comfort your people, says the Lord.
Saturday 4th April
Today is the day in-between, the day of grief, the day of quiet.
Try to hold more stillness than you might usually, more quiet. If you often have the TV or the radio on in the background, could you turn it off for a long stretch and enjoy the silence? Could you pause and meditate or pray, perhaps for a little longer than usual.
Today, don’t try to force answers or solutions or resolutions, just allow the stillness to be still. The silence to be silent. The calm to be calm.