When they got close to Jerusalem, near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sends off two of his disciples with these instructions: "Go into the village across the way, and right after you enter it, you'll find a colt tied up, one that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone questions you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell them, 'Its master has need of it and he will send it back here right away.'"

They set out and found a colt tied up at the door out on the street, and they untie it. Some of the people standing around started saying to them, "What do you think you're doing, untying that colt?" But they said just what Jesus had told them to say, so they left them alone.

So they bring the colt to Jesus, and they throw their cloaks on it; then he got on it. And many people spread their cloaks on the road, while other cut leafy branches from the fields. Those leading the way and those following kept shouting,

And he went into Jerusalem to the temple area and took stock of everything, but, since the hour was already late, he returned to Bethany with the twelve.

All: Living God, you are the beginning of our journey, our guide through life, and our destination. There is no joy like the joy of your presence, in the midst of your people! You do not deny your love to any who seek you. You lead through times of weeping to springs of new life and new beginnings. Thanks be to You, O God, our light and our refuge, the One in whom we trust. Amen.

I thank you, O God, because I love you.

O highest one, do not abandon me for You are my hope.

Freely I receive Your grace. Freely I live on it.

My persecutors will come, but let them not see me.

Let a cloud of darkness fall on their eyes.

Let thick gloom darken them.

Let light be gone and I be invisible so they will not seize me.

Let their counsel be thick darkness.

Let their cunning turn on their own heads,

For their counsel is nothing.

God, You are my hope, I will not fear.

You are as a garland over my head and I will not be moved.

Should everything shake, I stand firm.

If all visible things perish, I will not die.

You, God, are with me

And I am with You. Hallelujah!

When he was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, he was just reclining there, and a woman came in carrying an alabaster jar of myrrh, of pure and expensive nard. She broke the jar and poured the myrrh on his head.

Now some were annoyed and thought to themselves: "What good purpose is served by this waste of myrrh? For she could have sold the myrrh for more than three hundred silver coins and given the money to the poor. And they were angry with her.

Then Jesus said, "Let her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done me a courtesy. Remember, there will always be poor around, and whenever you want you can do good for them, but I won't always be around. She did what she could - she anticipates in anointing my body for burial. So help me, wherever the good news is announced in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her!"

Before he was arrested, . . . Jesus assembled us all and said, "Before I am delivered to them, let us sing a hymn to God and so go to meet what lies before us." So he told us to form a circle, holding one another's hands, and he stood in the middle and said, "Answer Amen to me." So he began to sing the hymn.

Christ speaks

I extend my hands and hallow You, my God!

I expand my hands in Your sign

My outstretched arms are Your holy cross . . .

They scorned me because in me there was no anger.

Because I did good I was hated.

They surrounded me like mad dogs who stupidly attack their masters.

Their thought is corrupt, their mind is perverted.

I carried water in my right hand. With sweetness I endured the bitter.

They sought my death. They failed.

They cast lots against me. They failed.

Christ speaks

I extend my hands and come near you, my God

Stretching my hands as spread on a tree is my sign, my Way to You.

I became useless to those who did not know me;

I hid from those who did not take hold of me.

My persecutors died. I am with those who love me.

Those who trust in me seek me because I am living.

I rise up and am with them and speak through their mouths.

They reject those who persecute them. I lock them in the yoke of love.

Like the arm of the groom over the bride,

So is my love over those who trust in me.

I was not rejected, although I was considered to be.

I did not perish, although they thought it of me.

Hell saw me and was shattered;

Death ejects me along with many others.

I have been gall and bitterness to death.

I went down with it to the utmost depth.

Death released my feet and head

Because it could not endure my face.

I made a congregation of living among the dead.

I spoke to them with living lips so my word would not be empty.

The dead ran to me, crying, "Son of God, pity us,

Be kind, bring us out of the bonds of darkness.

Open for us the door through which we may go forth to You.

We perceive that our death has not touched You.

May we also be saved with You because You are our Savior."

I heard their voice and stored their faith in my heart

I set my Name upon their heads

For they are free and they are mine. Hallelujah!