"The crowds that went ahead of him,  and that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven.”  

                                                                                   Matthew. 21: 9

  
If you asked our kids, they’d tell you the best family vacation ever was Disney.  They really know how to throw a parade.  We saw a day-time parade and a night-time parade and both were excellent.  Everything is perfectly orchestrated at Disney…you can see well from every spot,  hear the music well,  and the characters seem to know how to work both sides of the street at the same time.  But the best part of a parade isn’t what is orchestrated but what is spontaneous.  Our kids cheers and shouts,  their waving at their favorite characters and my daughter’s look of glee when she saw Cinderella in her horse-drawn pumpkin coach.

Today in Matthew we witness another parade – the parading of Jesus into Jerusalem.   This procession is fitting of a parade,  first because he’s going into the Holy City of Jerusalem.  Whenever people made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem they always entered the city with shouts of joy.   This place was the center of their faith.   But also they parade because Jesus is the Messiah and he’s finally coming to reign.  Their shout ‘Hosanna!’  which means ‘save now’ – words with messianic overtones.

Jesus is in on the planning of this parade.  He tells his disciples where to find a donkey and they go bring it for him to ride.  His orchestrating gives this parade credence and nobody can say that Jesus was swept up in the crowd’s enthusiasm and vision for him…he didn’t claim it for himself!’   No,  Jesus planned this parade.  But the best part of this parade is the spontaneity …the things that happen that aren’t orchestrated:   The cheering is spontaneous,  the chant of the crowd is too,  so is their spreading of leafy plants and cloaks on the road ahead of the donkey.  Spontaneity is where we see the faith of the people – spontaneity is where we see faith on parade.   

Jesus could have lived a good long life if he’d stayed out in Galilee…healing, teaching, ministering to those in need,   but he wouldn’t stay there.  He wanted to be at the center…at the political center,  the economic center,  the cultural center,  the religious center.  The Messiah would not be relegated to a small corner of Israel.
    And the same is true today…Jesus will not be relegated to a corner of our lives…just someone we call upon on Sunday mornings…Jesus wants to be paraded into our social circles,  into our business dealings,  onto the golf course,  right into our living room …into the center of our lives.  

And Jesus calls us to parade our faith into every corners of our life  – making faith part of everything we do,  part of the way we work and relate with each other every single day.  He won’t be relegated to a small corner of our lives…just Sunday mornings,  just a private matter between me and Jesus.

There’s been a lot of talk about New York Governor Elliot Spitzer this past week.  He was caught patronizing the very escort services he was trying to shut down.  He resigned the day after he made public confession.   The story brought to mind another story of a candidate for public office I once heard about.  The press dug up some dirt on this man’s private life and brought it to light.   The candidate argued that his private life had no bearing on his public life.  The Press asked other candidates running in the same election what they thought about that.  One of them said ‘private life speaks volumes of one’s worthiness to hold public office.’  

But we must not judge publicly elected officials any differently that ourselves.  We too must be sure that our private life jives with our public life.   The tendency with faith is to think of it as a private matter…something between me and Jesus.   But the church has always suggested that faith is a public matter too.  In fact, when a person professes their faith for the first time,  it’s done publicly.  You can’t just whisper it in my ear,  or tell the Session about it,  you must share it with the entire congregation.   Faith is a public expression…it can’t be relegated to some private corner of our lives.
That does not mean that we have to beat people over the head with our faith…but it does mean that people ought to know we stand for something.  Now there are some people who go through life without every parading much at all  -  you have no idea they are Christian or that they believe in anything or stand for anything.  There are others who show only marginal evidence of their faith … maybe they go to church sometimes,  or give to a church but otherwise it’s hard to tell them apart from anyone else on the street.
 But there are others who go through life and everything they do is a testimony to their faith – the charities they support,  the volunteer work they do,  the way they conduct themselves with others,  speaking up when it’s important to be vocal,  reaching for their wallet when it’s important to support,  and giving of their time and talents in the service of God.  That’s what it means to parade your faith!  
    And what’s is true for the individual is also true for the corporate whole…the church.  Our presence here on the corner of Hiden Blvd. and Madison Lane cannot be a private affair,  known only by the members who come through the doors.   Our presence must also be a public affair… as we reach out to the community around in faith.  Some of the most interesting testimonies I hear are those given by people who don’t go to this church.  What do you suppose people outside these walls are saying about Hidenwood Presbyterian?  I’ve heard some of them:

‘That’s where I first learned how to play basketball.  I was welcomed into that
  church as a kid.’

            ‘That’s the church with the chimes that ring each day.  I love those chimes!’

             ‘That’s the church who collects food for the hungry – we left food out for them at
               the last collection by their youth.’

            ‘That’s the church with the East Egg hunt for our children and a free breakfast
              every Easter.  That’s the church that with the Pumpkin Patch every fall.’

            ‘That’s the church that came down to Biloxi and helped fix up our house after
                 Katrina  struck.’

     Today Jesus parades into Jerusalem  -  the political, cultural,  economic and religious center of Judaism.   We celebrate it…not just with a little parade here in the sanctuary,  but by taking the parade out into the streets when we go from here.   
       Remember to parade your faith as you go from here today.

         Hosanna in the highest heaven!

Amen