Ski season is over for me, and the rains will be in my area for several days.

With Easter so late this year, I am excited for the promise that Palm Sunday and Easter each will bring flowers and the start of the gardening season.

Walk Through the Gate

In the Palm Sunday story, Jesus makes a choice. Jerusalem is a walled city; entering the city requires walking through the entrance gate. It is also a busy city; it was quite ordinary to walk through the gate. No one would notice. Jesus of course chooses not only to walk through the gate, but to make a big show of it. He is traveling with a group of one hundred or more followers, who helps make the show -- I assume they are the ones that gathered the palm branches and coats. Perhaps they went into the city in advance to build up a crowd.

Jesus has been "heading toward Jerusalem" for quite some time. It is clear that he feels it is important to go there. It is also not safe in Jerusalem. While Jesus has engaged with people who disagree with him in the country towns outside the gate, for the most part he is adored by the crowds. And the leaders of the small towns do not have the power to hurt him. Jerusalem is where the authority is--and the Roman authorities have the power of the death penalty.

Despite all these weeks of walking toward Jerusalem, at the gate Jesus has a choice. He has friends in the nearby town of Bethany. He is loved in the countryside. He can choose to go inside the gate and face pain, suffering, and death, or he can choose to stay outside the gate and be safe.

The entry itself is time for celebration. The people who love Jesus' message are there to greet him. What were they expecting? A revolution? Overthrowing Rome? God's rule? The crowd's welcome marks a king and each person has a different view of what a king might do to make their lives better. Jesus will teach and preach and turn over the tables in the temple before he ends up in court.

He could do, we can do, none of that until going through that gate.

Is your congregation standing at a gate? Are you asking whether or not to enter the dangerous zone? Are you thinking about risk-taking versus safety making? This could be moving to a more risky ministry, or deciding to take on a more risky protest. Moving from collecting clothes for immigrants to standing in front of a shelter to protect them. Moving from a showing your pride flag to speaking up on care for trans people. Each of these roads, and many others, have a gate we must pass through.

Be sure to have a theological discussion, not only a practical one. What is our theology of risk? Where does our scripture tell us to fear not? List, very specifically, what we are afraid of. What might happen? And if that happens, what will happen after that. And then what? List as well the risks of not acting. What might happen? And then what?

In the Palm Sunday story, Jesus plans for the risk. Not to eliminate it, but to be sure it is worth it. Scholars estimate Jesus spent three years in ministry, preparing for one week in Jerusalem. What is the prep work you can do in your community before you get to the decision-gate? What relationships can you build before you walk through the gate? Build connections to organizations in town, and to other churches with similar values. Focus on one clear message you want to communicate. Do some healing and casting out of demons locally before you head into the city.

And then, when it is time to go through the gate from the safer ministries to the less safe ministries, send someone ahead to get a donkey! A few people should talk to others who are already doing similar risky ministries. A few people should research the legal risks. A few people should gather the crowd needed, both from your congregation and people on the other side of the gate. Gather resources, like palms and coats, to pave the road forward.

It is okay to sit some at the gate as you prepare to walk through. But don't stay there. Enter the place of risk.

Has your church spent some time talking about how be part of the resistance? What were your theological and practical arguments? ​
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Here is a history of the song We Shall Overcome

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I'm going to the Wild Goose Festival over Labor Day Weekend. Will I see you there? Here is a podcast from Holy Shenanigans giving an overview of the festival.

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