People love to gather. Not surprisingly it’s good for us, in all sorts of ways. Social engagement increases life span, improves mental and physical health, and may even lower your risk of dementia.

Because of all this goodness we naturally want to gather in all sizes and kinds of groups. And we want to gather for all kinds of reasons. We humans are social creatures, after all. Often we gather with people who share our interests, our passions, our beliefs.

Sometimes we gather one-on-one, catching up over coffee with a friend, co-worker, or spouse. Sometimes it’s in crowds of dozens, or hundreds, or thousands. Even millions.

Sport
Sometimes we gather for sport. One thing our family had to give up because of Covid closures is Hannah’s Spring soccer league. She’s really grown to love playing – as a youth I did too. For us going to practices and games is typically a family affair. Kathi packs snacks, I’ll throw the foldable chairs in the back of the car, and off we go to Innes Park field. When Graham’s interest wanes he’ll meander over to the playground, often finding a friend to play with. For games chatting with other parents and yelling out some support and encouragement – GO HANNAH!! – is really tough to beat.

Gotta say I miss it. And can’t wait for local youth soccer to come back.

Then there’s the big sporting events that happen here in little ol’ Ames Iowa. The largest of those gatherings gets into the tens of thousands. We’re talking, of course, about Big 12 Iowa State Cyclones football. Home games at Jack Trice stadium can fill to capacity with 61,500 screaming, oft delirious fans. You can almost fit all of Ames, population ~67,000, in this one space. Locally we love us some Iowa State college football ?

Stadiums can get a lot larger than that. The biggest sporting venue in the world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has a seating capacity of over 257,000 people. Add in the infield seating and number increases to about 400,000.

Song
Sometimes we gather for song. Some of my favorite memories of Decembers past have been our son Graham’s preschool Christmas pageants down the road at St. Paul Lutheran. There kids recreate the cutest of nativity scenes. The church altar steps, filled with four and five-year olds dressed up as little sheep and donkeys, Mary and Joseph, shepherds aplenty, magi. Singing songs about the birth of our savior in all the organized chaos kids that age bring. The pageants are messy. And beautiful. And pure magic.

Cubbies
Sometimes we gather to celebrate. When a really, really big event in human history happens, gathering sizes can get astronomical. Such was the case on Friday, November 4, 2016. Any guesses on what people celebrated that day? No worries, this isn’t political ?

The event, held in Chicago, was an outdoor rally and parade. The city gathered together to celebrate the Cubs epic seven-game World Series win over the Cleveland Indians. City officials estimate turnout at 5 million people, making it the largest gathering of people, ever, in the western hemisphere. When you haven’t won a World Series in 108 years, as a fan, well, you’re ready to celebrate, ready to make some noise. And doing that together, with other passionate followers, by way of a parade, is a pretty good way to go.

In numbers great and small, when we desire to be part of something we care deeply for, people love to gather.

Momentum
Today we gather to celebrate another grand event, another big parade. Palm Sunday, complete with a King, a donkey, disciples, crowds and palms waving, oh my.

The build-up to this gathering was much longer than a children’s Christmas pageant. Much more extended than a mere season of sport. It was thirty-three years in the making, at least in the flesh. Add in the celestial timeline and we’re talking thousands, millions, perhaps billions more.

As with any movement of note, the makings of this celebration started small. Sometimes Christ gathered people one-on-one. Zacchaeus and a tree. Lazarus raised from the dead. The woman and the well.

Other gatherings were in pairs. Mary and Martha. Two blind men healed. Disciples, two by two.

Over time the numbers grew. Twelve disciples at first, later 70, then 120. Crowds kept coming. Flocking to Christ, listening to sermons on mounts and plains and hillsides, along with parables aplenty.

And the feeding of the 5,000? That count was just men. Add in the women and children also there and the total gets much, much higher.

Sometimes they dropped fishing nets, becoming fishers of men instead. Sometimes they dropped water buckets, and ran, sharing their experience with many. Sometimes the deaf, now no longer, left all they knew to hear more. Sometimes the blind, now granted sight, tagged along to catch a vision of the future to come. Sometimes the dead, now fully alive, went to see, and hear, and learn where this new life would lead.

The crowd there that parade day, gathered to celebrate as Jesus entered Jerusalem. They were a mixed group of multitudes, a collection of people from so many gatherings before. A group who loved he who had come in the name of the Lord.

Parade
As they came near Jerusalem Jesus sent two disciples ahead to secure transport for the parade. A grand earthly king would ride a horse, wouldn’t they. But a humble savior? A donkey and a colt would do just fine.

Animals now arrived, the disciples put cloaks on them. Christ sat, ready for the parade to begin. This very large crowd then did their thing.

They spread their cloaks on the ground, cut branches from trees and spread those at the donkey’s feet too. They rolled out the proverbial red carpet for their king. Perhaps others waved some of those branches in the air, as we do today, heightening the drama even more.

And they shouted their excitement. Oh did they shout.

Hosanna to the Son of David!
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Hosanna in the highest!

What a moment that must have been.

Questions and Condemnations
But that wasn’t the only crowd gathered there that day. Because sometimes, we gather to question. Amidst all of the celebration among his followers that followed Christ through Jerusalem that fateful day, there were also the city folk. And hearing all the commotion in the streets they came out to see what all the fuss was about.

Scripture says the whole city was in turmoil, with residents asking simply, “who is this?” This is the prophet, Jesus, his followers replied.

Maybe some understood. Likely many didn’t. A gathering of people, largely from other lands, celebrating a leader not-from-around-here couldn’t help but raise some eyebrows.

And sometimes, when things get really dark in our world, we gather to condemn. That’s a foreshadowing of the Good Friday narrative.  Crowds that day came, because of this same person, not to celebrate, but to crucify.

Fortunately, we know the unexpected, triumphant turn that story takes.

Celebrate, Question, Condemn
People love to gather. It’s good for us. Humanity was not meant to be alone.

Yet with no live sports to speak of, live music relegated to screens, work and worship and travel restricted, our in-person gathering options right now are, well, limited.

Which leads us back to a simpler time. It leads us back to the narratives of Holy week, and the three thee reasons crowds gathered over the course of a few fateful days.

We gather to celebrate.
We gather to question.
We gather to condemn.

As we look to an era different than any other in our lifetime, let me encourage you, people of God, to celebrate.

Celebrate gatherings past. Hold cherished memories like they were yesterday.
Celebrate newfound time with beloved family, both close and afar.
Celebrate technology that keeps us close, despite our separation.
Celebrate Holy Week with familiar faces, via screen, from the comfort of home.
Celebrate what you have still. For most of us it is very, very much.

At times, people of God, let me encourage you, to question.

Question what you know. Hold fast to media sources dealing in truth.
Question leaders as needed. Honor the science that will see us through.
Question what it is to seek the greater good. Not just the good of one person, one ego, one industry. But the greater good that benefits us all.

And, if at all possible, people of God, take great care not to condemn.

Here we can lean on the eighth commandment and Martin Luther’s explanation of it. Do not give false testimony against your neighbor. Do not betray them, slander them, or hurt their reputation. But instead defend them, speak well of them, and explain everything in the kindest of ways.

Choose kindness, whenever possible.

Close
But mostly, people of God, let us gather – as we’re able – to celebrate Christ, palms lifted high. Let us celebrate a savior that always desires the greater good; for God so loved the whole world, no exceptions. A savior who knows the human condition, and the challenges it contains. A savior with us in the past, here still today, seeing us through, to a brighter tomorrow, and beyond. Amen.