Palm Sunday Prayer
A Palm Sunday prayer during COVID-19 written by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
Lord Jesus Christ, you from whom angels hide their faces, you made your way to be with us sinners. You are King of kings, yet you humbled yourself to bear our flesh. You shine with heavenly glory, yet you lowered yourself into our darkness. You glow with moral purity, yet you absorbed all our evil into your holy being and did not pass evil back. We join our voices with the Palm Sunday crowd to say, “Hosanna! Save us!”
Lord Jesus Christ, we live in a frightening world, menaced by a tiny virus we cannot see and cannot see coming. Some of us are sick. Some of us have been sick. Some of us will be sick. All of us are afraid of being sick. Lord Jesus Christ, hosanna. Save us.
Lord Jesus Christ, you entered our world as a helpless babe. We pray today for the babies of the world who cannot do for themselves, for the elderly, who can now do so much less for themselves, for people with disabilities, for the unlettered, the unheard, the unmentioned, the unmentionable.
Lord Jesus Christ, you were a homeless man with no place to lay your head. We lift to you the exiled peoples of the world. Look in mercy on men and women in refugee camps today, dependent for life itself on blessed handouts. Look in mercy on their children, stung to see their parents ask strangers for help. Turn the strangers into friends, we pray, and the camps into havens of relief, all because your own people knew exile and because you are the one in whom our hearts find their true home.
Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, come into our lives, we pray. Shine on us with everlasting light. Rain on us with unceasing bounty. Blow on us with life-giving love. Settle on us with refreshing dew. Shine on us, rain on us, blow on us, settle on us. O Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, come into our lives today. We need you. Hosanna. Save us. Amen.
Please feel free to use this prayer for your Palm Sunday online services and shelter-at-home prayer time.