Mary, Martha.......and the Perfect Dinner Party!

Luke 10:38-42

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I wonder which of the two in our gospel reading you relate to most (and this applies to the fellas as well)! Do you see yourself as a “Mary”, sitting there quietly listening at the feet of Jesus? Or are you more of a “Martha”, never having time to sit down, always rushing about, doing three or four things at once? I have a sneaking suspicion that most of us, if we are honest would probably see ourselves more as Martha’s……always busy, worrying that things are maybe not quite right and doing our best to make sure that things go to plan. I’m sure that many of us have had friends round for dinner, and spent hours working out the perfect menu, selecting the right wine (to be served at the right temperature), making sure the seating plan is in order, and oh so carefully choosing the right kind of background music to create the perfect atmosphere for a dinner party to remember!

I’m sure that thoughts similar to these would have been running through Martha’s mind as she prepared for and received their honoured guest. She was in fact fulfilling the expected role of a woman at that time, certainly no time to sit down for five minutes at the feet of Jesus like her sister Mary!

Mary, on the other hand seems to have no problem with behaving in quite a different, and even radical way with Jesus. She sits at the feet of Jesus as though she is a disciple! This is almost unheard of!  It is simply not a woman’s place to take upon herself what was very much the male role of student, learning from the Teacher. In that simple act, by doing something that seems so very ordinary to us today, she completely turns upside down the expectations of society as to the correct way in which women should behave.

 

Sometimes we forget perhaps just how radical parts of the Bible actually are. We become so used to always having it there in the background that we can sometimes miss those times when the status quo is changed, particularly in such a quiet way. This is one of those times!

We read in other sections of the gospels of a similar scenario, such as when Jesus visited the home of Lazarus (who he had raised from the dead, and who also happened to be the brother of Mary and Martha). We again see Martha rushing about making sure everything is perfect and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus anointing him with perfume!

At the beginning of my Reader training we were asked to complete one of those personality style tests that are meant to pinpoint what style of personality you have. Some of you might be familiar with the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator……..this was a very much simplified version of that and certainly wasn’t an exact science! It basically slotted us into a number of categories according to whether we were an activist/doing kind of person or more of a contemplative/thinking one. For what it’s worth I came out as being at the more contemplative end of the scale, though in reality I reckon, like many I am a mix of both, but apparently it’s the contemplation that dominates!

If such tests were around in their time I reckon most of us would be able to guess what personality types Mary and Martha would fall into! Mary, the one who takes time to sit and learn, perhaps a bit more studious! Martha the practical one, eager to get things done, distracted, we are told by “many tasks”. We see similar personalities in the male disciples as well; it’s not simply a gender thing!

In a situation that those of you who are parents will probably sympathise with Martha complains to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the work all by myself? Tell her then to help me!” (Lk 10:40) “I’m doing it all and she just sits there”! It does seem pretty unfair! And the response of Jesus? Don’t allow yourself to be so distracted by external things all the time. Slow down and focus on that which is really important!

 

It’s easy to get so distracted by things that are going on around us that sometimes we lose focus on what is really important. Even here in church, we can get so caught up sometimes in PCC meetings, rotas for the coffee, getting people to help out at the jumble sale, even who is presiding or preaching from one week to the next, that we can forget to take out time to be still like Mary.

All of those things, like Martha’s own preparations are important, but we need the times of simply sitting at the feet of Jesus to recharge and refresh us. We need to find time in our often distracted day when we can just be still and know that He is God and receive His love! Hospitality and generosity to others are absolutely essential to the gospel message, how we treat others is a key part of Jesus’s teaching, as we saw in last week’s recollection of the Good Samaritan. Yet, at the same time our actions need to be supported by our being fed by the one who brings us fullness of life.

Today we give thanks for the service that St John’s College has given not only this church, but also the local community. Like Martha they have been beavering away over the years providing us not only with our parish lunches, but also many who come to the community centre for a bite to eat and a friendly face at the same time as providing work experience for their students. The church would miss its Martha’s, and we will miss St John’s, but we wish them well and assure them of our prayers as they themselves move into a new phase.

So, I come back to the question I asked at the beginning! Are you a Martha or a Mary? And truth be told, each of us will have a mixture of the characteristics of each with us. We need both Martha and Mary. We need to be people who are prepared to go out and get our hands dirty and also take time to sit at the feet of Our Lord and be refreshed.

AMEN

Discipleship isn't meant to be cosy!

Mark 6:7-29

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our reading this evening from Mark’s gospel recounts one of the more gruesome stories to be found in the New Testament, that of the beheading of John the Baptist. There really is no way to sanitise or dress this event up to make it seem somehow better than it was. During his birthday celebrations, at the request of his niece, Herod orders the brutal execution of the one who had prepared the way for Jesus. It is almost beyond comprehension to even consider that such an act could happen seemingly on a whim!

It is almost too easy at times to become acclimatised to incredibly brutal and often graphic violence as we switch on the TV news and hear of the latest act of mindless violence, sometimes very close to home. I come from the generation that first experimented with video games, and back then it was all about PacMan or trying to stop aliens from invading the earth. Contemporary video games with increasingly realistic graphics are thought by many to possibly blur between what is real and what is not! It is understandable perhaps, in that context that some people can seemingly become so immune to increasingly high levels of cruelty and violence.

We are more used perhaps of thinking about John the Baptist during Advent as we consider his role as the forerunner of Jesus…….the one who prepared the way. There the story is of one who is “crying out in the wilderness…..proclaiming a baptism of repentence for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1:3-4). Here now, we see this great figure at the end of his life, still in a sense preparing the way ahead for Jesus, even as he himself faces death. In his own death he mirrors something of what lies ahead for Jesus. Herod, like Pilate with Jesus, seems to want to protect John, but ends up allowing him to be killed instead. The ones responsible for the death, in John’s case……Herodias, and in Jesus’s case, the Jewish religious leaders have no real authority of their own. Rather they exert pressure on the one who ultimately makes the decision. With John, what makes the whole episode even more chilling is the apparently casual manner with which he is dispatched……then his head paraded on a platter like some kind of trophy.

The church often speaks about Stephen being the first Christian martyr, as recorded in Acts. In a very real sense though it is actually John the Baptist who is the first to die for Christ.

Looking back to the beginning of our gospel reading we hear of Jesus sending out the disciples in pairs. They are told not to bother with material possessions, only take what is absolutely necessary and to go out healing the sick, casting out demons and accepting whatever hospitality they may find. And they are told, if anyone isn’t interested in their message, to brush themselves down and move on.

There are similarities here with the ministry of John the Baptist. He spent many long years in the wilderness, as an itinerant preacher proclaiming a message that wasn’t always popular or well received. Yet he did so because of the call of God upon his life, a call which itself is recounted at the beginning of Luke’s gospel. His life (and that that of the disciples) wasn’t about looking for the easiest or most convenient way to get by, but rather about obeying the call of God wherever it may lead and whatever the consequences.

I’m reminded of some of our more contemporary martyrs who like John the Baptist devoted their entire lives to proclaiming the Kingdom of God in both word and deed. Saint Maximillian Kolbe was one of them, having been imprisoned in Auschwitz for protecting Jews from Nazi persecution. As a catholic priest, who had dedicated himself to living out the gospel, he offered his own life in the place of another who had been selected to die.

It is unlikely that any of us here will ever be called upon to make that kind of sacrifice, though there are still those around the world who do just that. What each of us is called to do however, as disciples of Christ, is to go out and proclaim the Kingdom of God in both word and deed to all we meet. Some may be receptive, others less so, but we are called to do it in humility and obedience to Our Lord.

Both Maximillian Kolbe and John the Baptist heard and obeyed the call of God upon their lives, even to the very end. May we not allow ourselves to become so used to our comfortable and sometimes quite cosy Christian lives that we forget how radical and often dangerous it can be to be a follower of Christ.

AMEN

 

The Faith of a Centurion...........

 

Sermon 2^nd June 2013 (Royal Engineers Sunday)

1 Kings 8:22-23; 41-43

Galatians 1:1-12

Luke 7:1b-10

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

I think it’s safe to assume that most of us here, maybe even all of us, are rather familiar with the film, The Wizard of Oz.  It’s the classic story of Dorothy, a young girl from Kansas who finds herself transported to the land of Oz, a vibrant colourful and magical land filled with all sorts of amazing characters.

 As she travels along the Yellow Brick Road to meet the wizard, she meets some very unusual friends, has a number of increasingly surreal adventures, and learns a great deal about friendship, courage, wisdom, caring, and trust. Yet, even as she learns these lessons, at the end of the film she learns that she already had everything that she needed stored up inside of her. This, in fact, is the very lesson that the film, The Wizard of Oz seeks to teach.

 Although it is nice to have powerful friends like the wizard, at the end of the day, Dorothy already had everything she needed to get home. She simply had to look to herself, have faith in herself, and find what she needed somewhere inside herself. Interestingly enough, this is the very lesson that the world is constantly teaching us. As humans, we are constantly told that we can do anything we want. We have the power to affect our lives, all we have to do is look deep enough inside ourselves and we will find everything we will ever need. All we have to do is trust ourselves. But even though this is the lesson that the world is constantly seeking to teach us, Our Lord teaches us a different lesson about faith in our gospel reading this morning.

Our reading from Luke’s gospel speaks to us of the centurion and his servant, and of a bond between them that seems to go beyond that of a master/servant or employer/employee relationship. The centurion would have been a man of influence and some power within the Roman Army. He was a leader and would have been respected by many for his courage. Surely if anyone could find all the resources that were needed deep within themselves it was he!

 Yet here he is, deeply concerned about his gravely ill servant, who is close to death, understanding that even he does not have all the resources within himself to be able to turn the situation around. Some friends alert Jesus to what is happening and he heads to the centurion’s house where the servant lays on his death bed. The centurion being a man used to serving under authority, as well as being a man of authority responds to Jesus’ arrival with both humility and faith, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I do not presume to come to you. But only speak the word and let my servant be healed”.  His concern for the one who was in his care was obvious to all, including Jesus.

As I have already mentioned, we are very often taught and conditioned, by our upbringing or by society to somehow find the answers to our needs within ourselves. The shelves of most bookshops will have large sections devoted to self-help books that will give out that very message. Yet, it is outside of himself and his servant that this man of great influence reaches. He sees no shame…….no weakness in acknowledging his own limits and asking Jesus to heal his servant, his friend!

 We remember today those who have, like the centurion, dedicated themselves to serving others in a way that demands looking beyond themselves. Those members of the Royal Engineer Regiment which is part of our church community here at St George’s, both past and present, will be familiar with the need to put their own desires and ego’s to one side and serve selflessly alongside friends and comrades for a greater good.

I’m sure that each will recognise that no matter how deep within themselves they may search, on their own there is only a very limited amount which can be achieved. On his own the centurion could have possibly eased his servant’s pain or made him a little bit more comfortable, but no more than that. For something, or someone who could really make a difference to the situation he had to look outside of himself and place his faith in Jesus.

And faith isn’t just some abstract idea confined to the four walls of a church, or something best left to the devoutly religious. Faith is something that lies deep within our very selves, which is there to draw upon and strengthen us. Within the highly disciplined environment of a regiment or platoon there is no doubt a great sense of interdependence, trust and yes……faith in one another to work together and protect one another in order to reach a greater goal.

 We place our faith daily in the hands of those who serve us. Here in Kemptown we are very aware of the dedication of the medical staff up the road at the Royal Sussex Hospital. We place our faith in the hands of the police and other emergency services who seek to protect us and keep us safe.

And it is only right for us to acknowledge today that we also place our faith in those who often put themselves in harm’s way in order that we live the lives that we do. Unlike Dorothy back in Kansas, no matter how deep within ourselves we may reach, we can never fully come up with the resources we need to fully attain our goal. We need to look beyond ourselves to those who serve and protect, and ultimately as the centurion did, to Our Lord Jesus.

May we stand alongside the centurion and his servant in acknowledging our own limits, and place our faith in the one who is bound by no limits.

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN

The Perfect Relationship............

Trinity Sunday 26^th May 2013

Proverbs 8:1-4; 22-31

Romans 5:1-5

John 16:12-15

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Trinity Sunday is one of those Sundays during the year that preachers sometimes dread. How to put into words something that is never explicitly mentioned in the Bible, yet is at the very core of our faith and identity. I’m sure also that many people in churches today will be glazing over slightly at the prospect of listening to a sermon trying to explain the seemingly unexplainable……God the 1 in 3 and 3 in 1! It almost sounds like the tagline from a cheesy television advert!

If you are one of those tempted to drift off for the next few minutes then just remember and hold on to this one thought. Simple enough and one that I’m sure we all know at least on a superficial level.

GOD

IS

LOVE

In those three small words we see something of the essence of what the Trinity is!

At the heart of our Christian faith is the affirmation that in Christ we have come to know the triune God. Not “know about” in some kind of distant or abstract way, but actually know! There is one God, and this God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The mechanics of how this one God can at the same time be three very distinct persons remains as much a mystery to us as how Christ can be fully present in the bread and wine whenever we take the Eucharist. Yet it is a mystery to which we give our assent each and every time we say the creed.

What really strikes me whenever I think about the Trinity is not whether I understand it or not, because I suspect that I understand it no more than most other people sitting in church today. What sticks out for me is the theme of relationship! In many religions God is characterised as a distant, impersonal figure who seems to do little more than set the world in motion, throw in the odd disaster now and again while at the same time demanding a slavish, unquestioning obedience!

The God who is revealed to us within the Trinity is completely the opposite from that unreachable figure. The God we come to worship today is a God who relates to creation itself, and in particular to humanity as we see in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Relationships are at the heart of our human experience. Whatever shape or form they may come in we all have experience of some kind of relationship in our lives. That of a parent and child or the relationship between husband and wife or life partners. The relationship of shared interest and mutual friendship with those with whom we have something in common. Humanity was created to live and thrive within relationship right from the outset. Simply being with, sharing with and supporting and encouraging one another as we journey through life together.

 Most of us operate best within some form of community or another. The old adage of “No man is an island” is not simply a catchy little saying that most of us have heard over the years. It has a certain truth to it! Few of us are called to the solitary life of a medieval style hermit, and even for those who either through choice or circumstance are often alone there is usually some form of contact with others, hopefully (though sadly not always, of a supportive and encouraging nature).

Our gospel reading today gives us an insight into the relationship within the Trinity. Jesus has just been speaking to the disciples about what will happen once he is no longer physically with them. He speaks of the “Spirit of Truth” (v13), which earlier he had described to them as the “Advocate” (v7) coming to guide them into all truth and pointing the way to him. Going on to say that “All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (v15).

That relationship we see there is not one of competition or superiority. Rather it is a relationship that is grounded in love, for GOD IS LOVE. To know something of the Trinity is to know something of the nature of God, which is pure undiluted love. I suspect if we were to ask the question “what is love?” in this room now we would end up with almost as many definitions as there are people sitting here. It’s tricky to pin down, but I suspect also that most of us would recognise it somehow.

 

The Trinity is God in perfect relationship! We don’t fully understand it and we can’t fully explain it! Yet each time we come to the altar and eat the body and blood of Christ we too are invited to be participants in that relationship.

The nature of the Trinity is just as impossible for us to fully understand, yet through it we somehow get a glimpse into the fullness of what it means to love and be loved. May each of us come to experience that love for ourselves and allow ourselves to be used as vessels by which others may also receive that same love.

+ In the name of our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN

 

 

No More On The Outside........

No More On The Outside……..

Zephaniah 3:14-end

Matthew 28:1-10 & 16-end

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our reading from Matthew’s gospel ends with perhaps one of the most well-known of Jesus’s commands to his disciples. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:19-20)

It comes at the end of a narrative which sees both of the Mary’s, Magdalene and the mother of Jesus visit the tomb of the one who only a couple of days earlier they had seen endure a horrendous and tortuous death by crucifixion. They would have gone to the tomb to weep and mourn for Jesus, grief-stricken and probably at a complete loss as to what to do now!

These feelings of utter despair are suddenly all turned completely upside down at the appearance of an angel who informs them that in fact the Jesus they sought, who had indeed been crucified was now raised to new life. It’s easy to picture them, standing there, mouths wide-open in astonishment at all that is happening to them…….both the angel and the message. Could this be their grief playing tricks on them in their state of mind? Nevertheless they go, quickly, at the angels behest, with a mixture probably of pure terror and high excitement to pass on the angels message to the other disciples.

 And I say “other” disciples deliberately. We are so used to thinking of the disciples as the group of twelve (now eleven) men who figure so prominently in the gospels that the role of others, often women, can be easily overlooked or relegated to a mere footnote in the story. Yet these two women were no less disciples than the men, and it is significant that it was to the women the angel spoke and Jesus made his first post-resurrection appearance.

And it is significant because just as in his earthly life and ministry as Jesus embraced and welcomed those who were often at the edge of society (and in his day that was very much the place of women), so also in his death and resurrection he chooses to appear first to those who perhaps the chattering classes of the day would somehow look down upon. It almost echoes what he says earlier in Matthew’s gospel in a different context in the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matt 20:16). These two women, undoubtedly used to being pushed to one side, ignored or looked down upon were now privileged to be the very first to witness the risen Jesus. And it is they who are given the task of breaking this joyous news to the rest of the disciples. It is ironic perhaps that given the honoured place Jesus gives to his women disciples alongside his male disciples that the church which bears his name has for so long struggled to reflect his full welcome and inclusion for all.

Our first reading, from Zephaniah is a song of joy! A song that speaks of bringing the outcast, the lame, the downtrodden……..the excluded, into the Kingdom of God. It speaks of a God who rejoices over such people with gladness. It’s not of course that he doesn’t also rejoice over those over those whose lives are full of good fortune, but his rejoicing and love are wide and great enough to embrace all who will receive. But there seems to be a particular emphasis in him reaching out to the previously unreachable.

For generations the Jewish people had regarded themselves as the chosen people of God, the elect, who were set apart from others (Gentiles). This “Great Commission” at the end of Matthew’s gospel widens God’s favour to all, not just the select few. Those who had maybe previously thought of themselves as belonging to a select band of specially chosen handpicked elite are told to go and share what they know, bring others into the fold. Include those who had been previously excluded!

Just as he first encountered the women at the tomb and turned their tears into joy and amazement, so we are invited to encounter him also. Just as they ran to share their news of the risen Lord with the other disciples, so we too are invited to join them and share that same news. Whether we share that news literally with the nations, or perhaps with our friends and families or our neighbourhood, we too have a role to play in bringing in those who may somehow not feel as though they belong.

 And perhaps we feel sometimes that is where we are ourselves, sitting or standing on the outside, sometimes ignored…..often overlooked. Yet, it is to you that I would say look at the two women at the tomb who would have felt very much the same and see the difference that their contribution made to the beginning of what would eventually become the church. No more on the outside looking in, but very much on the inside looking out and indeed playing a full role in taking the good news of the Gospel to others.

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

Cycling Among the Sheep!

Acts 9:36-43

Revelation 7:9-17

John 10:22-30

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I remember a couple of years ago during the annual Good Friday walk of witness as people made their way along St James’s Street towards the Old Steine, a guy going the opposite way on a bike just shouted as he went past, “Sheep, baaaa”. As far as off the cuff insults go it wasn’t especially original, and I know I have, and I’m sure others here today have been called much worse things. It may be that he thought he was being witty or clever, who knows? What I do know though is that he was a bit late in ascribing the attributes of sheep to those of us who were walking that day……..as we see in today’s gospel reading Jesus had got there first! “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they will follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” Perhaps the guy on the bike was closer to the truth than he realised!

There are many different portrayals of Jesus throughout the New Testament, but the image of Jesus as the Great Shepherd of the sheep is perhaps one of the most enduring of those images. Those of a certain age will probably have memories of watching “One Man and His Dog”, and the TV image of Phil Drabble will be the closest many of us ever came to seeing a shepherd in action.

The gospel reading echoes also the most well-known of all the Psalms, Psalm 23, which we heard as we began our worship this morning. Both passages speak of a deep sense of belonging and protection. The sheep belong to the shepherd whose very life is dedicated to the nurture and well-being of those he is charged with the care of.

 At the beginning of the gospel reading Jesus is confronted by those demanding that he speak plainly of who he is. “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly”. They had heard Jesus' words and seen his works and still they did not know whether or not he was the promised Messiah or just another rabbi. They did not understand who Jesus was! Sometimes it can be just plain difficult to see the truth when it is literally staring you right in the face! The sincerity of his questioners was in doubt in any case. Most of the times on occasions like this, the questions, rather than being honest and open enquiries, were intended as a trap for Jesus to fall into and implicate himself, giving them the satisfaction of handing him over to the authorities.

So how does Jesus respond? “I have told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep”. Despite the plain evidence in front of their own eyes of Jesus’s ministry of healing and of all that pointed towards him indeed being the promised Messiah, they either could not or would not believe. Of course they actually lived when Jesus himself was around……..we have a span of 2000 years, and centuries of biblical scholarship separating us from these events.

While I was preparing for this sermon I came across a cartoon of a fairly human looking sheep relaxing on a sunbed in a field, iPod headphones on, TV blasting out in front of him, and surrounded by a laptop and mobile phone. Across the other side of the field there was the shepherd calling out to this completely oblivious figure on the sunbed. The caption in the cartoon had the sheep thinking “I wonder why I don’t hear from the shepherd anymore”.

How easy and tempting it is to become so caught up in our own little worlds that we don’t always hear the voice of the shepherd. Would we even recognise his voice? Our time is taken up with plenty of other things that need doing; we bury ourselves in our work or become just bogged down sometimes with lives that seem to get more complicated by the day. We are surrounded by computers, mobile phones and plenty of other things that promise to make our lives happier or easier. We distract ourselves by saying that if we buy the latest iPhone or upgrade the car then life will somehow be better.

 Even here in church it can become so easy to be busy constantly “doing things” that sometimes we can feel a bit like the sheep on the sunbed……..we just have different distractions!

 There are certainly plenty of things that need to be done to keep the work of St George’s moving forward. Whether it’s the clergy, the churchwardens, the PCC, cleaning the church, organising the flowers, helping on the coffee rota……..all important things in themselves. Yet while we are so busy making sure things run smoothly sometimes it can seem as though we don’t always hear the voice of the shepherd. Sometimes there is just too much noise around us to listen out for that call and respond.

When I last preached on Palm Sunday I spoke of taking time during Holy Week to pray, reflect and listen as we journey with Jesus through those few days. Yet, we are called to do just that as part of our everyday journey with him, not only during Lent or Easter, but constantly.

He is our shepherd and we are his sheep, he calls to us and draws us to him. Let us slow down, take time out and listen to what he has to say to us. He can speak to us in a whole variety of ways, through scripture, as we partake of him in the Eucharist or in a still, small voice. Always he calls to us out of his love for us, we simply need to step away for a while from whatever is distracting us, be still and listen.

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN

 

 

 

 

 

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday, 24^th March 2013

Isa 50:4-9a

Phil 2:5-11

Mark 14 & 15 (dramatic reading)

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our services on Palm Sunday are rather different from what we are used to on most Sundays throughout the year. To begin with they are actually two interlinked services, the Liturgy of the Palms and the Liturgy of the Passion. We begin with a short gathering up the road at St Mark’s where we remember the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The triumphant crowd lining the streets as Jesus rides through them on a donkey to shouts of “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. At last, finally the people have come to realise the greatness of who Jesus really is ………..or have they?

As our procession through the streets of Kemptown arrives at St George’s we begin our second service to the familiar words of the hymn “Ride on, ride on in majesty”. As we sing the words of that hymn we get our first glimpse that perhaps that triumphant entry into Jerusalem wasn’t all that it seemed.

“Ride on, ride on in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die;

Bow thy meek head to mortal pain,

Then take, O God, thy power, and reign.”

 

I don’t for a moment imagine that the crowds on that first Palm Sunday, who were actually in town for the great Passover celebration, thought they were cheering Jesus on towards his death. Many of them quite probably just got caught up in the excitement of the day. Yet, as we know all too well, events and circumstances can so quickly and tragically change. The adulation of the crowd was not to last!

We come together today at what is a week of great contrasts. From the ecstatic reaction of the crowd at the beginning of the week, right through to his betrayal by Judas and denial by Peter. We see Jesus in the garden at Gethsemane agonising at what he knows is to come, about to endure the bleakest possible circumstances, while those closest to him slept! In a very human way, as he prays, he pleads to be spared what lies ahead……the torture, the humiliation, the death! Though ultimately he knew that it was not all about him, but rather about the purpose of the one who sent him. He remained focused upon the purpose for which he was sent. If only the disciples around him were able to do the same at a time when he needed their watchfulness and support like never before.

The whole period leading up to Holy Week and Easter has become very sanitised in a similar way to Christmas, with the emphasis very often upon even more consumption of chocolate eggs and the appearance of the Easter Bunny. Yet the reality is in complete contrast to that, a picture of a bleak and forlorn Jesus who at times felt completely abandoned, not only by his friends, but even at one point, by God Himself!

 This Holy Week we are called to look beyond the Easter Egg displays, to focus on something other than how we might plan to spend next weeks Bank Holiday. We are called to walk alongside Jesus not only in the brief excitement of Palm Sunday but also in the days that lie ahead. We are invited to partake of his Last Supper with the disciples.  We are called to keep watch with him in the garden on the night of his betrayal, and the following day to stand with him at the foot of his cross.

Even if time and circumstances make it difficult to come to the services in the next few days (and each of us do come with plenty of other demands on our daily lives), make a point to set aside a short period each day when you are able to focus upon the journey which Jesus makes this week. Take time to reflect, pray and sit with him, whether it is here at church or at home, as the one who rode into Jerusalem in triumph prepares to lay down his life for those who only days before had laid palms down at his feet.

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN