Sharing some thoughts

  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 (as some of us did this morning) 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 Jerusalem.  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 e...

William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, once said, ‘The Church is the only organisation that exists for the benefit of its non-members.’   I think there is no greater proof of this quote than when we consider the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and today, Passion Sunday, is the day when we start to turn our thoughts beyond our own journey through Lent, to the even more serious business of Holy Week, Good Friday and ultimately of course to the joy of Easter Day. The church is great as an organisation – there are lots of structures and systems and lots of people like to feel they have a special right to make decisions in the Church. Lots of us like to have our own places and so on, but within the membership of God’s kingdom we have no more rights than anyone else. There’s a story about a farmer in Russia. After it became a communist state he was visited by a party official, and the farmer asked what this would mean for him. The official replied, ‘Well comrade, ...

Today we celebrate Mothering Sunday, a day of joy and celebration for many, of reflection for some, and for some people even sadness or regret. Whatever it may be for you, it’s a day where we’re called to look at love in it’s widest sense – and ultimately to the greatest love of all, the love of God for each one of us….     A woman told this story, ‘As a working mother with an office in my home, I pride myself on maintaining a professional image. One key to that image is my answer-machine greeting which is often the first contact clients have with me. I worked on making it sound upbeat and enthusiastic and very professional, and thought I had succeeded until a friend left this message: “Judy, this is Pam. I love your greeting, but do you know that you can hear your little boy in the background saying, ‘Mummy, I have to go on my potty’?”    Another story is of Karen, the mother of two high-spirited young girls. When a friend called her one morning, the conversation wa...

  There’s a story about a boy who brought home his school report. It contained a lot of poor marks. "What have you to say about this?" asked his father. "One thing is for sure," the boy replied, "Dad, you can be proud. You know I haven't been cheating!" Some people have a great gift of looking on the bright side of every situation, but others are not so good at that.  As we look at the news around the world at the moment, there is so much gloom and pessimism whether that comes from the lack of peace in the world or economic situations or anything else! Even following the Welsh rugby team this year hasn’t been a cause for too much optimism!  And in the church we too can sometimes be guilty of thinking of the problems rather than the blessings and the joys of which there are so many.  There’s an awful lot of pessimistic people around in the world, and I think the Church tends to have at least its fair share, ready to warn of impending danger and d...