Palm Sunday is a whiplash. It begins with blessing and celebration and palm-waving, but moves quickly toward a reading of the Passion narrative. The intention of that turn from celebration to self-reflection is a reminder: we are at the same time those who declare “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” and who have declared “Crucify Him!”.
That same whiplash happens almost any time I walk into our church building. We have recently purchased a church building from the Episcopal Church of West Virginia. St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church was built to serve the people of Summersville, WV, by sharing the truth and grace found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it did, seemingly, for a generation. It declared “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” It worshipped in Word and Sacrament. But the last time the sanctuary had been used was December 2019. St. Martin’s was essentially dead. Fr. Walt Mycoff was the last priest to serve St. Martin’s, and he was excited and eager to help us settle into the space. The Episcopal bishop was eager to sell the building to another church. So, the vestry at Church of the Good Shepherd and I prayed, discerned, and finally took the steps to purchase that building. 
Why is entering that church whiplash? Because it is joy and it is sobering. It is joy, because the mission that St. Martin’s started is continuing in Church of the Good Shepherd. It is a Gospel outpost in a place that really is “in the fields”. It is a place where the Word is preached and the sacraments are rightly administered. It is a place where lives are being changed by beholding the glory of the Lord.
It is also sobering. For all the joy we have now, if we don’t hold fast to the Gospel we will end up like St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Our little church building is like walking through a graveyard into a maternity ward. Every Sunday I’m reminded that Jesus didn’t promise to build a social club, or activity center, or a political party. He promised to build His church, and if a group of people leave the faith once for all delivered to the saints, or refuse to share that good news, it will die. At the same time, I look out on our congregation that has more children than adults and thank God that He does keep His promises ‘to a thousand generations’ (Deut. 7:9). 
So this Sunday I will process with my church proclaiming in joy that Jesus is the Son of David, and we will proclaim soberly together, “Crucify Him”! Church of the Good Shepherd is committed to proclaiming our great sin and our greater Savior, but that does not mean that we are any more worthy of the Lord’s love than the congregation that came before us in this old church building. We stand as sinners in need of grace as much as the dying churches around us do.
The question is, what will we do with that need? If we ignore our need, we end up like so many churches who ignore the Word. If we fixate on our need more than our Savior, then we proclaim a Law, not a Gospel. We will fix our eyes on Jesus. As our Palm Sunday liturgy invites us, we will ‘greet him as our King, though we know his crown was a crown of thorns, and his throne a Cross.’
Grace and Peace,
Nate+
Planting Priest l Church of the Good Shepherd, Summersville, WV