{"id":6546,"date":"2017-04-07T20:32:54","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T20:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=6546"},"modified":"2018-10-08T20:34:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T20:34:52","slug":"sing-sing-sing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2017\/sing-sing-sing\/","title":{"rendered":"Sing, sing, sing: A reflection to prepare for Palm Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Church of the Brethren Newsline
\nApril\u00a07,\u00a02017<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
Pixabay.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Theresa Eshbach<\/p>\n

\u201cBlessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord\u201d (Psalm 118:26a).<\/em><\/p>\n

Get ready.
\nArrange the festal branches.
\nOpen the doors, the windows, the gates.
\nVocalize! Prepare a mighty chorus. Flood the streets with alleluias:
\n\u201cBlessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

But,
\nHow can we sing a hymn of praise,
\nWhen Chibok girls, Syrian children, sex-trafficked slaves, homeless addicts, and broken families
\nRemain hostages–separated, ostracized, bound?
\nHow can we enter a joyful parade, process, and sing:
\n\u201cThis is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet,
\nHow can we not remember God\u2019s faithfulness?
\nLike the Jews preparing for Passover, how can we not prepare for our Jerusalem journey?v Will we overlook God\u2019s presence when we are faced with a cross?
\nWill we forget God\u2019s endless streams of mercy and steadfast love?
\n\u201cThe Lord is my strength and my might.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So,
\nWe must sing!
\nWe will not fail to join the mighty chorus for the One who comes to join us in our weakness.
\nWe will remember God\u2019s never-ending love and medicine of mercy.
\n\u201cBlessed is the one who comes to us in the name of the Lord.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

O Lord, you are my God, and I will give thanks and praise to you in all of life\u2019s circumstances.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014This is the April 8 meditation from \u201cMedicine of Mercy: Devotions for Ash Wednesday Through Easter\u201d by Theresa Eshbach, this year\u2019s Lent devotional from Brethren Press. For more about the annual Lent and Advent devotional booklets published by Brethren Press, go to\u00a0www.brethrenpress.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to\u00a0www.brethren.org\/Newsline<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe to the Church of the Brethren Newsline free e-mail news service and receive church news every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reflection for Palm Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-6546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6548,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546\/revisions\/6548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6546"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}