The road goes ever on!

Sixth Sunday in Lent _ commonly called Palm Sunday. 17th April 2011 Readings of the Eucharist are: Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 and the Passion according to Matthew 26:14-27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54

The last time i thought about this particular cycle of reading (Year A) I had just been to Europe a few months before so I had done some thinking about what did and what did not work when you plan a complex trip.

A few months later my wife and I took another journey

when we made a decision to journey separately.

We all make

all sorts of journeys.

And journeys require tenacity

they need planning

and they change us

As Holy Week begins we take something of a journey

it is undergirded by the story of Jesus last days before his death.

We have also been taking a journey through Lent,

in these weeks we have been thinking about what it means to be Christian

we have been trying to hear the voice of Jesus

(chiefly through the witness of John's gospel)

about how we might try to live faithfully in the spirit of the promises we made

or which were made for us at Baptism.

How do we continue the journey begun at our baptism

when we were asked :

Do you turn to Christ?
Do you repent of sin?

Do you reject selfishness?

Do you renounce evil?

These promises are reaffirmed on Easter Day

We have also reflected on the mystery of life and death
and hear that there is a great overshadowing promise of Jesus:
"I am the Resurrection and the Life!"
It is the promise which breathes life back into our deadness.
And which open the eyes of the blind heart.

The reading from the letter to the Philippians this week

addresses this journey, this transition, this growth,
in a more poetic and philisophical way

St Paul writes

Philippians 2:5-11

2:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,

2:8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

2:9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

2:11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The purpose of the journey is that we may become like Christ.
Not presuming on our Godly nature

but acting out of it.
It is a journey of suffering
a journey of challenge
which will transform us that we may be like him

Such journeys require tenacity

they need planning

and they change us

as we enact it liturgically

the real goal is to pursue it

in reality

Beginning the journey again

There is more than abundance of Scripture to read during this season.We begin Holy Week on 28th March with Palm Sunday. The Liturgy of the Palms which is a prelude to the main liturgy of the day ( Luke 19:28-40;Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29) and read as part of a procession before the service begins. The Liturgy of the Passion involves the reading of the Passion Story according to Luke (Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49) Just take it slowly and read what you can /what you feel moved to but try to allow yourself to be drawn into the personal mystery of what God is doing for the world and in your life
Another Palm Sunday Homily is here

Is God so demanding that he will not stop until we are totally destroyed.
Sometimes it feels like that.
As Sunday begins with a "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem
we can spend time wondering what the nature of this event was
It is good to be accurate, but not good to nit-pick.
The truth is that the Gospels offer us variety in the accounts and insights of the last few days.
The Palm Sunday story is one full of hope and expectation
The Good Friday is one of confusion and desolation
The Easter story is one of excitement, uncertainty and expectation.

It is a journey to be travelled
we do not stand still
we are engaged powerfully
because this journey of hopeful expectation, of desolation and confusion
is exactly what our lives our like.
Whether it be our excitement at the birth of a child,
or our desolation when a child is miscarried.
Or a job that is exactly what we hoped for
but is cut short by a cancer diagnosis, or a debilitating car accident.
Even if it is only the hope that we have when we are young
that fails to be realised
when we are old

This is a journey that we all make

We are invited, too, by the Easter experience
to realise that dashed hopes, desolation and confusion
are only a step along the way
They are not the climax or the conclusion.
These stories fill us with a sense of excitement, challenge and expectation
that we are entering uncharted waters.

scrutiny
as we look at our life
where is the sense of hopefulness.
What do we long for, what fulfillment do we seek?
This is Palm Sunday.
We don't need to anticipate Good Friday yet.
What do we believe God is trying to do in our life
what do we want God to do?
What sense of excitement, hope, fear
do we note as we sense what God might have in store for us?
What encourages us forward,
what holds us back.

Allow this week to be a time of challenge and exploration
as we permit God to show us more of what there is in store for us
and pray for grace to respond.

Palm Sunday-The journey continues

Sixth Sunday in Lent _ commonly called Palm Sunday. March 16, 2008 Readings of the Eucharist are: Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 and the Passion according to Matthew 26:14-27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54

Journeys require tenacity

they need planning

and they change us

As Holy Week begins we take something of a journey

it is undergirded by the story of Jesus last days before his death.

We have also been taking a journey through Lent,

in these weeks we have been thinking about what it means to be Christian

and how do we live faithfully in the spirit of the promises we made

or which were made for us at Baptism.

How do we continue the journey begun at our baptism

when we were asked :

Do you turn to Christ?
Do you repent of sin?

Do you reject selfishness?

Do you renounce evil?

These promises are reaffirmed on Easter Day

We have also reflected on the mystery of life and death
and hear that there is a great overshadowing promise of Jesus:
"I am the Resurrection and the Life!"
It is the promise which breathes life back into our deadness.
And which open the eyes of the blind heart.

The reading from the letter to the Phillipians addresses this journey, this transition, this growth,
in a more poetic and philisophical way

St Paul writes

Philippians 2:5-11

2:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,

2:8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

2:9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

2:11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The purpose of the journey is that we may become like Christ.
Not presuming on our Godly nature but acting out of it.
It is a journey of suffering
a journey of challenge
which will transform us that we may be like him

Such journeys require tenacity

they need planning

and they change us