The Palm/Passion Sunday affair

Mar 25, 2018 8:05:03 AM / by Jake Bouma

Photo of a detective. Probably determining if Palm Sunday vs. Passion Sunday is the culprit | Sparkhouse Blog

I’m not really sure how else to do it, so I’m just gonna give it to you straight.

I think there’s a valuable Holy Week lesson—particularly in regards to the Palm Sunday vs. Passion Sunday debate—to be learned from the SHOWTIME drama The Affair.

I know. Just hear me out.

The art of storytelling

I’ve seen every episode of The Affair (don’t judge me). While ostensibly the show is about—you guessed it—an extramarital affair, what keeps me coming back is the way The Affair’s writers have chosen to tell the story.

The plot of each episode is essentially recounted twice. The first half is from one character’s point of view, and the second half is from another’s. Some differences may be subtle (what outfit a character is wearing in a particular scene) while others are more pronounced (who is at fault for something).

Ultimately, this storytelling device—called “Rashomon,” after a 1950 film of the same name—leaves a sizeable chunk of interpretive work to the viewer, who must piece together contradictory plot elements into a somewhat coherent narrative. And what are the four gospels if not the original Rashomon-style narrative?

Question marks remind to ask questions and consider the real importance of Palm Sunday vs. Passion Sunday | Sparkhouse Blog

The Palm Sunday vs. Passion Sunday debate

Which brings us to Holy Week. For churches, one of the many liturgical calendar-related questions of the season is whether to observe Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday the weekend before Easter. And while it may seem an either/or proposition, it’s entirely possible that if you surveyed ten churches, you’d discover ten different solutions to this liturgical predicament.

My own congregation, for example, observes both during the same worship service.

The history of how to “properly” kick off Holy Week is long and kind of complicated. And, as UMC Director of Worship Resources Taylor Burton-Edwards explains, it has almost nothing to do with whether folks will bother to show up for Good Friday worship.

“Lent and Holy Week,” he writes, “are… all about discipling people in the way of Jesus. During Lent, we focus on core stories and practices of Jesus's ministry. During Holy Week, we focus intensely on his last days, his execution, his burial, and finally…his resurrection.”

What matters most

In other words, Palm Sunday vs. Passion Sunday debate aside, one of our primary jobs as church workers is to invite people into the “core stories” of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all narrate these stories differently, and if The Affair has taught me anything (aside from the questionable nature of my TV preferences), it’s that this subjectivity is actually a gift—one that we can and should lean into, during Holy Week especially.

How will you share the story this time around?

Topics: General Ministry, Events and Holidays

Jake Bouma

Written by Jake Bouma

Jake is a storyteller, cancer survivor, semipro theologian, and Apple enthusiast currently serving as director of youth & family ministry at Faith Lutheran Church in Clive, Iowa. He and his wife, Libby, spend most of their time googling things like “how to raise a toddler without losing your mind.”

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