When I was a child, one of my favorite parts of Palm Sunday at church was receiving a real palm leaf when I entered the sanctuary for worship and waving it as we sang this hymn:
All glory, laud and honor
Refrain:
All glory, laud, and honor
to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.Thou art the King of Israel,
thou David’s royal Son,
who in the Lord’s Name comest,
the King and Blessed One. RefrainThe company of angels
are praising thee on high;
and mortal men and all things
created make reply. RefrainThe people of the Hebrews
with palms before thee went;
our praise and prayer and anthems
before thee we present. RefrainTo thee before thy passion
they sang their hymns of praise;
to thee, now high exalted
our melody we raise. RefrainThou didst accept their praises;
accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest,
thou good and gracious King. Refrain
Words: Theodulph of Orleans (ca. 750-821), ca. 820
Trans. John Mason Neale (1818-1866), 1854,
as altered in Hymns Ancient and Modern
As we enter Holy Week, let us be like those little children and glorify Jesus for all that He has done for us. It is so easy to be too busy to think about the significance of this week, but let us be like the angels and the little children and sing to our Savior, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”