For Whom Will the Church Be Safe?

When we were in the States last year for Dad’s funeral, Ruth preached a sermon that was so good it was published in an academic journal, in the same issue with renowned biblical scholars Craig S. Keener and Havilah Dharamraj.

If you didn’t get to hear it the first time, now you can read it:
“For Whom Will the Church Be Safe?” Priscilla Papers 37, no. 2 (Spring 2023): 18–21.

Click here for a pdf of the sermon, or download the entire issue, or read the issue as a flipbook in your browser, or read the sermon in html format here.

Hosanna !

The Hebrew phrase הוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא <hoshi’ah na> (more technically <hôšî’â(-n)nā’>) means “save us, now!” The phrase occurs in the Psalms. In later usage, the phrase developed a celebratory sense, in effect thanking God in advance for rescuing the petitioners or thanking God now for rescuing the petitioners now. I think both senses were operable on Palm Sunday. In the New Testament this was transliterated as ὡσαννά <hōsanná>.

As the Church celebrates singing “hosanna in the highest!” let us do so in celebration and thanksgiving — but let us also make room for those who are still crying out “save us, now!” and who are still asking “how long, O Lord?”
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(The palm leaves in the background are on a tree beside our house.)