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Sample Liturgy for Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday)

On the Liturgy

  • Before using this liturgy, please read the information and instructions throughout “The Service of the Word and Lord’s Supper.”
  • The final Sunday before Easter Sunday is known as Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday. The service has two parts. The first part, the Liturgy of the Palms, focuses on Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem, which set into motion the events of Holy Week. The second part, the Liturgy of the Passion, focuses on the crucifixion, since it is the last Sunday before Easter to focus on the cross (some people will not attend other Holy Week services). The cries of “Hosanna!” are contrasted with the cries of “Crucify him!” For more on the 40-day season of Lent, see “A Guide to Lent and Holy Week.”
  • Download visual aids: The Liturgy of the Palms (.jpg); The Liturgy of the Passion (.jpg)
  • Real palm branches are used during the Liturgy of the Palms and can be ordered online from numerous church supply stores (e.g., Concordia Supply). To connect Palm Sunday with the coming crucifixion, many churches also make and hand out palm leaf crosses. Note: Palm branches are sometimes taken home by congregants and used for decoration or crafts before being returned to the church and burned for ashes to use on Ash Wednesday of the following year.
  • The service traditionally begins outside (weather permitting). If possible, the congregation gathers a significant distance from the church building (e.g., at a designated location in the parking lot). The door of the church represents the gate through which Jesus entered the city. Palm branches and service bulletins are distributed. After the reading of the triumphant entry Gospel (Matthew 21:1–11) and the subsequent prayer, the Minister says “Let us go forth in peace!” and leads the people to the door of the church singing a fitting hymn such as “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.” All hold or wave their palm branches. The procession may pause at the door of the church for the reading of Psalm 118:19–29.
  • To accommodate the Liturgy of the Palms, the sermon may be kept shorter on this day (e.g., 10 to 15 minutes). The Confession and Absolution are also omitted in this liturgy.
  • This liturgy is built around the texts for Year A in the Revised Common Lectionary. See “Collects and Readings for Lent.”
  • Hymn numbers correspond to Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (Seedbed, 2022). Chorus numbers correspond to The Chorus Book: Contemporary and Traditional Favorites (Lillenas, 2003). See also “Lent Hymns, Songs, and Metrical Psalms.”
  • Some portions are written in a conversational tone to illustrate how the Minister might transition through the liturgy in a pastoral manner.

Artwork for Bulletins and Slideshows

The Liturgy of the Palms

PROCESSIONAL

If the service begins inside the church instead of outside the church with a procession of the congregation towards the doors, “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” or another fitting hymn may simply be played while the Minister(s) enter.

OPENING ANTHEM OR ACCLAMATION

Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel!
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

INTRODUCTION OR CALL TO WORSHIP

Good morning, brothers and sisters! From the beginning of Lent until now we have been preparing our hearts by repentance and self-sacrifice. Today, with the whole Church, we celebrate the beginning of the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. On this day our Lord Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem and was welcomed as King with palms and shouts of praise. Today we greet him as our King, though we know his crown was a crown of thorns, and his throne a Cross. Therefore, I invite you to follow our Lord this Holy Week, from his triumphal entry, through his suffering and death, to the glory of his resurrection.

OPENING PRAYER

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Let us pray.

O Lord God of our salvation, assist us mercifully with your help, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRY GOSPEL: MATTHEW 21:1–11

A reading from the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew, Chapter 21, at the first verse:

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting,

All: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Christ.

PRAYER

Let us pray.

We praise you, Almighty God, for the acts of love by which you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. On this day he entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph, and was hailed as King by those who spread their garments and branches of palm along his way. Sanctify these branches with your blessing, we humbly pray, that they may be for us signs of his victory. Grant that we who bear them in his Name may ever hail him as our King, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

If there is a procession of the people, the Minister says,

Brothers and sisters, like the crowds who acclaimed Jesus in Jerusalem, let us go forth in peace.
In the name of Christ! Amen!

HYMN

If there is not a procession of the people, children may be invited to come forward and wave their palm branches during the hymn.

  • Hosanna, Loud Hosanna (227)
  • Or, All Glory, Laud, and Honor (228)

PSALM 118:19–28

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.

Open the gates of Jerusalem!

21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Open the gates of Jerusalem!

25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

Open the gates of Jerusalem!

27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! 28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.

All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

CHORUS

  • Hosanna (117)

COLLECT

While Palm Sunday was a glorious day, filled with rejoicing, the cries of “Hosanna!” would soon fade and a few short days be replaced with cries of “Crucify him!” When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, he rode on to die.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, your most dear Son did not go up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the Cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

TRANSITION HYMN

  • Ride On! Ride On in Majesty (229) — verse 4, “ride on to die; bown Thy meek head to mortal pain, then take, O God, Thy pow’r and reign.”

The Liturgy of the Passion

COLLECT

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

THE FIRST LESSON: ISAIAH 50:4–9

A reading from the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 50, at the 4th verse:

4 The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 5 The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. 6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. 7 But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. 8 He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Christ.

THE GRADUAL: PSALM 31:9–16

9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. 10 For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. 11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. 12 I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. 13 For I hear the whispering of many— terror on every side!— as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. 14 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! 16 Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!

All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

THE SECOND LESSON: PHILIPPIANS 2:5–11

A reading from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2, at the 5th verse:

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

HYMN

THE GOSPEL READING: MATTHEW 27:11–54

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew.

11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” 14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. 15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” 20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said,

All: “Barabbas.”

22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said,

All: “Let him be crucified!”

23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more,

All: “Let him be crucified!”

24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered,

All: “His blood be on us and on our children!”

26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. 27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying,

All: “Hail, King of the Jews!”

30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. 32 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.

Please stand.

33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. 45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said,

All: “Truly this was the Son of God!”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Christ.

THE SERMON

THE CREED

Let us confess our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary: Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died, and was buried: He descended to the dead: On the third day he rose again from the dead: He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father: From there he will come to judge the living and the dead: I believe in the Holy Spirit: the holy catholic church: the communion of saints: The forgiveness of sins: The resurrection of the body: And the life everlasting. Amen.

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

THE OFFERTORY

INVITATION

We have heard the Word of the Lord. Now, the Lord invites all who have answered his call to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins to feast at his Table and remember his sacrifice.

THE SURSUM CORDA AND THE SANCTUS

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up unto the Lord.
Let us give thanks unto our God.
It is fitting and right to do so.
Hosanna to the Son of David.
Hosanna in the highest.

O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God, it is very fitting, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto you through Christ our Lord. For, though innocent, he suffered willingly for sinners and accepted unjust condemnation to save the guilty. His Death has washed away our sins, and his Resurrection has secured our justification.

Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you, and saying,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Glory be to you, O Lord most high. Amen.

SONG

THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Almighty God, our heavenly Father; of your tender mercy, you gave your only Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption. By once offering himself there, he made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, offering, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.

So now, most merciful Father, we humbly ask you to bless and sanctify, with your Word and Spirit, these gifts of bread and wine; and grant that we may receive them according to the holy institution of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, in remembrance of his death and passion, and be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood.

In the same night that he was betrayed, he took* bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake* it; and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take, eat; this* is my Body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Likewise after Supper he took* the Cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink you all of this; for this* is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins: Do this as often as you shall drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Therefore we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Let us pray.

Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come; your will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

THE MINISTRATION

Raise the bread and the cup in the sight of the people and say,

The gifts of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.

The Ministers receive the Bread and Cup, and then invite the people to come forward to partake. When delivering the bread to each person, one of the following may be said:

  • The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for you.
  • The body of Christ, preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life.
  • The body of Christ; take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you.
  • The body of Christ; feed on him in your heart by faith, with thanksgiving.
  • The body of Christ, the bread of heaven.

When delivering the cup to each person, one of the following may be said:

  • The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you.
  • The blood of Christ, preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life.
  • The blood of Christ; drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and be thankful.
  • The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.

The Supper may be distributed in silence, or a song may be played or sung in the background.

  • Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

THE POST COMMUNION PRAYER

O Lord, we thank you for nourishing us with these sacred gifts, and ask that just as through the death of your Son, you have brought us to hope for what we believe, so by his resurrection you may lead us to where you call. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

THE BLESSING AND SENDING

Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Let us go forth in the name of Christ.
Thanks be to God.

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