Palm Sunday

The text says...

So go ahead.  Don't wait until you think your motivations are correct.  Don't wait 'til you are sure you believe every single line of the Nicene Creed (no one does).  Don't worry about coming to church this week for the right reasons.  Just wave branches.  Should praise for the wrong reason.  Eat a meal.  Have your feet washed.  Grab at coins.  Should crucify him.  Walk away when the cock crows.  Because we, as we are and not as some improved version of ourselves...we are who God came to save. And nothing can stop what's going to happen. 

Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber is my pastor and the leader of the congregation of which I have been a part in Denver for a number of years now.  This post ignited a fair amount of controversy, with people saying that if you do not believe every line of the Creed (which by the way is an entirely human and political construct, NOT Biblical) you have no business being a pastor.  I disagree.  I think we need this reminder as we enter into Holy Week.  Only Jesus knew what was happening when he entered into Jerusalem.  The disciples and the crowds were clinging to the idea that a king was coming.  They had no idea that he would be brutally executed before the week was out and that they would turn him over to the Pharisees, deny him, call for his crucifixion and watch the life fade from his eyes while he hung on a cross.  WE ARE these people.  And God came to save all of us anyway.  I need a God who loves me BEFORE I do anything good or believe the right stuff, because let's be honest, left to my own devices, that probably won't happen.  This is the beauty of Holy Week.