Hosanna in 2020

Each Palm Sunday we gather on Broadway in front of our commercial building and then we process to our Sanctuary waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna.

            This year I could not find any palms, but I’ve got these lovely tulips at our local bodega (They still carry flowers even now, bless them!). In the midst of this COVID pandemic we need to stay at home. And thus we cannot gather and shout our Hosanna on Broadway and along the 73rd Street. But we have an even stronger reason to shout our Hosannas in our virtual, electronic worship. Because Hosanna in the original Hebrew is not a sound of rejoicing (as often wrongly perceived). It was, and still is, a desperate pleading for help.

            HOŠIAH (הוֹשִׁ֘יעָ֥ה) - is an intensive causative DO SAVE! DO HELP (US) and NA (נָּ֑א) is an enclitic particle indicating intensity or desperation FINALLY, AFTER ALL, (WE) BESIEGE YOU!

              Hosanna is thus a deeply felt request Do help (us), (we) beg (you)!

            And Jesus did exactly that. He came to Jerusalem to help and save and he started with cleansing the Temple: cleaning religion. And that is what we will do this coming Sunday. We will pray HOSANNA - DO SAVE US, WE BEG YOU! And we will let Jesus clean our religion, starting at the center of our faith - our understanding of what Resurrection meant and can mean today. 
Join us in worship this Sunday at our livestream: https://livestream.com/rutgerschurchnyc