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Holy Week - some questions, some thoughts..

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  Holy Week – the questions…   Speaking to someone recently I said how much I valued Holy Week. I’ve thought about that a bit more and wondered what it is about it that is special, and my answer seems to be that it really does encompass so much of what my faith is about… There are other events and things that have made me reflect more closely on my faith and had a great impact on me, but Holy Week is up there with those things that are formative in my faith.  So, what is it about for me? Well, I think it’s something to do with the questions raised, and the answers given, or sometimes not. It’s about the statements made and the challenges offered and it’s about the promises made, verbally or implied, and the practical way in which God’s promises are revealed before us.  Palm Sunday is an exciting day in the church calendar. A day of palm waving and processions, a day of chaos in many churches as those processions move at different speeds in different directions, sometimes with d

Walking past the cheering - Palm Sunday

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  Today begins Holy Week, the time when we are asked to walk with Jesus to the cross before, next week, joining in with the celebrations of Easter Day.  Palm Sunday is always a special day in church. Sometimes churches do processions which can be a bit chaotic with different people walking at different speeds, sometimes even in different directions…  However we commemorate it, Palm Sunday is special, and I wonder perhaps if it doesn’t give us the chance to understand the mind of Jesus in this week a little bit more.  The gospel reading includes Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. There were people spreading their cloaks on the roads and waving their branches as they greeted Jesus into the city.  The hopes of a passionate crowd were pinned on Jesus, but I’m not sure they even understood what those hopes might be. And that seems to have been true of the disciples too as the events of the week unfold, and it becomes clear that even they hadn’t quite grasped what Jesus had told them abo

Filling the God shaped hole…

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  A little boy went along to a prayer meeting one day with his father. It was quite an intense prayer meeting where everyone prayed very loudly. Later the little boy remarked to his father, ‘If they lived nearer to God, they wouldn’t have to shout !’ Lent is a time when we traditionally seek to get closer to God, to live a little bit nearer to him, and today in our readings (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 5:5-10 & John 12:20-33) we are reminded of some of the promises that we are given by him. We are reminded of the new covenant, the promise that Jesus has made to each one of us, a promise of new life offered in love through his death and resurrection. As we get closer to the commemoration of Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and ultimately to Easter Day, I think it’s worth just spending a short time reflecting on new life. And in the gospel reading I think we find some points on the subject. The first is the request to Philip from the Greeks, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus’. It is the most simple,

It is personal…

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  One of the things that really builds up the atmosphere at big rugby matches outside the ground is the smell of the hot dog vans and also the shouts of the various traders, whether they be selling scarves and hats, face painting or trying to buy or sell tickets... Though the hot dog vans and scarves and things were probably missing I think the Passover celebrations must have been a bit like this with traders crowding into Jerusalem to earn a bit of money. It was a great occasion with people going for the religious festival obviously but also for the celebration, and during the Passover even the Temple authorities saw a great opportunity to make some money. This was the scene in our gospel reading this morning (John 2:13-22). It’s one of those great events remembered from the life of Jesus as he stormed into the temple and found people selling animals and the money-changers all ready to help with sorting out the payment. Within the temple compound the Roman currency was conside

Aligning with Jesus

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  Today is the 1 st Sunday in Lent – it seems to have come early this year ! Wasn’t Christmas only a few weeks ago ?  Anyway, Lent is a time for reflection, a time for thinking about where we are in our relationship with God. Of course, it’s often associated with giving things up, particularly nice things ! Things like chocolate for example…  But it’s actually much more about deepening our relationship with God – not just for a specific time from now up until Easter, but doing something that makes a lasting difference for us… In our gospel reading today (Mark 1: 9-15) we have the account of the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.  It’s an interesting reading for the start of Lent because it’s not about giving things up or doing things better, it’s about seeing Jesus more clearly, and recognising what he does and has done for us…  I read some time ago about a New Testament professor who visited a high school youth group. After the professor finished speaking about the significance of