Passion Sunday marks our entrance into the high feast of our faith, the great holy days and sacred time of our lives as Christians.

Death frightens most everyone. Yet this weekend, no one in the congregation will be able to escape the reality of death, because Jesus cannot escape it either.

The Passion narrative is so enthralling on its own terms it can be difficult to keep in mind that it is not simply a drama about the death of Jesus. Gospel stories are deliberately told in a way that always invites us to find our place in the story.

Movie screens are getting bigger again. Special effects create worlds beyond our imagination. Hit movies need to be reviewed and labeled as “spectacular” and have stars of international status.

Labeled the most corrupt cop in Chicago history, a former Chicago police officer was sentenced earlier this year to life in prison.

How do you pass on a living faith to the next generation? A few years back, Robert Wuthnow, sociologist of religion, conducted research among people who considered themselves religious and asked what influences from childhood had helped their faith take root.

When we sing Hosanna, we ask God, “Pray, save us.” In praise we ask the Lord’s blessing upon our prayers.

They took palm branches and went out to meet him. The story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, proclaimed at the procession with palms, is full of allusions to scripture passages in both testaments.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.