This week (website only)
- Theme:
- The Passion and the Cross
- Hymns on StF+:
- Hymns only online (submit to stfplus@methodistchurch.org.uk)
- Festivals and Seasons:
- Holy Week
- Authors & translators:
- Sardeson, Anne J.
- Festivals and Seasons:
- Lent
For Palm Sunday (Gospel of Mark)
This week the cry goes “Hosanna” then “die”;
followers run, and one will just lie;
voices are silenced and some whisper “why?”;
but most of Jerusalem shout “crucify!”
This week the way goes from welcome to fear;
turning the tables, the end is now near.
From widow to soldier the cost becomes clear:
nothing is simple when Jesus is here.
This week it feels like the hope slips away;
falling asleep at the end of the day;
gone into hiding with nothing to say;
hangs on a cross with no words left to pray.
This week the truth of God’s grace will be known;
as fig trees are cursed and money is thrown.
(Strange are the ways that God’s presence is shown.)
A seed in the ground dies and new life is grown.
Words: Anne J. Sardeson © potsofpossibility Holy Week 2018
Music: Anne J. Sardeson © potsofpossibility Holy Week 2018 Download PDF
Metre: Irregular
Permission is granted to reproduce this hymn for worship purposes with the copyright details included.
Ideas for use
This hymn is designed to be sung unaccompanied, with a steady rhythm that suggests the unremitting tread from Palm Sunday towards Gethsemane and Golgotha. That rhythm can be supported by the beat of a drum, or even the stamping of feet - singers marching on the spot.
Consider singing each verse quieter than the last - beginning with a loud “Hosanna” then “die”, fading as "hope slips away", and concluding with a whisper-quiet final verse in which "a seed in the ground dies and new life is grown".
More information
The Revd Anne Sardeson is a Training Officer for the United Reformed Church Thames North Synod. She is also a musician and hymn writer.
In Making a hymn - how to go about it, Anne describes the thinking that lay behind the writing of this hymn.