Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday are both on the Sunday before Easter. This always creates a conflict in my mind both emphases are important but it is hard to do both in the same service. So I like to move Passion Sunday to two Sundays before Easter. This allows us to give the suffering sacrifice of Jesus its full observance and lets us celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem its full joyous response. Since in the Church of the Brethren tradition we recognize the traditional church calendar, but are not bound by it, we feel free to make such changes when they are suitable. The church’s hymnody is rich in songs about the cross and the suffering of Jesus. Those songs touch a deep place in many of our hearts. Some can reduce us to empathetic tears while others provoke in us a profound sense of gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice for all of us. Sacrifice is at the heart of the gospel. The example of Jesus calls us all to a life of sacrifice for others. This is not because we have low self- worth. Just the opposite is the case. Because we know how God sees us as worthy, we know that our sacrifice is the gift of something enormously valuable. Jesus bore his own cross and bids us take up our own crosses and follow him. There will be joy in our sacrifice but there will also be sorrow. A perfect hymn for Passion Sunday reads: “Man of Sorrows” what a name for the Son of God who came ruined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah, what a Savior!” We follow Jesus into the suffering at the cross in the anticipation of the resurrection. Hallelujah, What a Savior!