Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday What happens on Palm Sunday – and what relevance does it have for us? Let’s go back a step to the Psalm. Psalms are the first hymn book of the Jewish people. The psalm from which we’ve heard today – Psalm 118 – was a hymn which was particularly used at the Passover. Scholars say that this psalm was used for a dramatic ceremony at Passover: A procession would form outside the temple and praises the Lord with the chorus “his love endures forever”. In the bit our reading missed out, the crowd would have heard a dramatic telling of how God has always come to the help of his people. Then there would have been a dialogue between the leader of the procession outside the temple and the priests within “open the gates” - “this is the gate of the Lord” & so on. There would have been shouts of ‘hosanna’ – Lord, save us - and waving of palm branches in celebration. Then finally everyone entered the temple and the priests would again invite all the people to prai