Sven & Ole on April's Fool Day + Palm / Passion Sunday, 2012

1st the April Fool's joke for this coming April Fool's Sunday. (Thanks to my Dad for sending this one - and in case you haven't figured it out, yes, my background is Norwegian.)


Ole is the pastor of the local Norwegian Lutheran Church, and Pastor Sven is the minister of the Swedish Covenant Church across the road.

One day they are seen pounding a sign into the ground, which said:

DA END ISS NEAR!
TURN YERSELF AROUNT
NOW BAFOR IT
ISS TOO LATE!

As a car speeds past them, the driver leans out his window and yells, "Leave people alone, you Skandihoovian religious nuts!"

From the curve, they hear screeching tires and a big splash.

Shaking his head, Rev. Ole says, "Dat's da terd one dis mornin'."
"Yaa," Pastor Sven agrees, then asks, "Do ya tink maybe da sign should yust say, 'Bridge out?'

___

Lectionary Texts: Palm: Psalm 118, Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16
                            Passion: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:1 - 15:47

On a more serious note ... Here we find Jesus with his face set like flint heading into Jerusalem for the show down. We know how it ends ... and then start's again. That is part of our problem, I suppose.  Somehow we miss all the real suspense - the kind that occurs in our daily lives. In our lives, we don't know the ending - or the middle, either. One of the questions that the texts bring this week is the wondering, what is worth dieing for? What principled decisions do I make that are worth not just inconveniencing myself for, but are truly worth dieing for? After all, Jesus could have disappeared during the upcoming week. Instead, Jesus chose to continue his non-violent protest.

Blessings during these final days of Lent.

Joel