Weekly Roundup 30th March 2021

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Last Sunday was Palm Sunday. We celebrated by fully reopening our church. We are now open for live services. Yay! It was lovely to see so many of our church family in person. I am looking forward to more of us joining in, particularly on Easter Sunday. That's this Sunday.
Back to Palm Sunday. Sue Allerton preached on Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem. I love the fact we have three super preachers; each of whom brings a fresh perspective and new insights. I don’t know how many Palm Sunday sermons I have heard over the years. Lots!  Even so, Sue offered a fresh new insight. She made several good points. But the stand-out one for me was to do with the confusion of the event. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He had one agenda. It was God’s agenda of salvation.  And to do it God’s way. But there were at least four different perspectives among the observers of the event. 

• For some there, this was Jesus coming into his own.  Some of his followers, even some of his twelve apostles, had been wondering why Jesus had held back so long. When was Jesus was going to confront the Pharisees and other religious leaders? When could they expect to see the new spiritual order to be established?
• For many ordinary people, they had been expecting a new king to arise. Someone who would unite the nation of Israel and throw the hated Romans out of the land. A new King David.
• For the Romans and their quislings, this was deeply worrying. What was Jesus up to? Was this the start of a rebellion? The Roman empire was thinly stretched. The last thing that they needed was a full throated uprising.
• For still others, this was just a really cool spectacle. It broke the monotony of their days. They could come and join in and shout Hosanna along with all the others.  

Thus, confusion reigned. Sue equated this to many things in our lives and in our spiritual lives. The new insight she offered was that it just did and does not not matter. It was not necessary for God to correct all or even any of the misunderstandings about Jesus entry to Jerusalem.  Friends, you and I don’t need to understand all the details of how God is at work in the world and in our lives. God is God and He is working his purposes out. If we can just let go of our desire to control everything, He will be pleased to involve us in His earth shattering plans.
So that was last week. This week, we journey through Holy Week. To get the most out of it, let’s take time every day to pray. To ask God to help us walk in the footsteps of the disciples as they journeyed through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and finally to the triumph of Easter Sunday.
Please join with the staff team and I as we seek to do so? You are invited to:

• Daily prayer at 9.30 am (ask Brian Eales for your Zoom link)
• Thursday BCP Holy Communion 10.00 am (In person and live in the Lady Chapel)
• Maundy Thursday Holy Communion 7.00 pm in Church
• Good Friday “An hour by the cross” 2.00 till 3.00 pm. (Via Youtube)
• Easter Sunday morning 10.00 (in person and live in church). 

God bless you friends

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