St Luke 23:  26 – 43

As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.” Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us”; and to the hills, “Cover us.”  For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’  And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ 

And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’  The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’  There was also an inscription over him,  ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’  Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Reflection

Maundy means command or mandate and relates to what Jesus told his disciples to do in his memory, to share bread and wine, to serve and love one another. In the midst of all the injustice, brutality and pain, so harmful and damaging that he was unable to carry the crossbeam to the site of the crucifixion, Jesus was focused on love.

Today’s reading isn’t about commandments, instead it’s about condemnation. Jesus has been condemned and talks about a time when Jerusalem itself will be condemned. This is no sermon on the mount, the only blessed people here are the barren, the childless, those whose future has been taken away. A truly hollow blessing. One day, not too far into the future, this city will lie in ruins.

Can we snatch some comfort here for ourselves in amidst all this injustice and death? Can we glimpse paradise as Jesus appears to be able to and look forward to a time beyond suffering? Here he hangs, an innocent man with two guilty men, one on each side of them, punished by a barbaric and ruthless torture. The Roman cross was both efficient and cruel. A very public example of what happens to those who challenge the Empire. He was mocked because he couldn’t save himself. Couldn’t or wouldn’t?

This was a body being broken, this was blood being poured out. For them, for the disciples, for us. This wasn’t primarily the death of someone who was a thorn in the side of authority. This was redemption and salvation, a rescue in the only way that God could deliver liberation to God’s people. This wasn’t death as the end.

Scattered throughout this account, although in unbearable pain, the words Jesus speaks are words of pity, forgiveness and love. Even here, where there is no respite, seemingly no hope as the doubters and the mockers are forsaking someone who only a few days earlier was heralded as the Messiah, even now Jesus offers love.

Prayer

We see the weight of the cross
The pain of the nails
Your arms stretched out
Your innocence absorbing and absolving our guilt
Forgive us
Hold us in your love
Amen

St Luke 23: 13 – 25

Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, ‘You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.’

Then they all shouted out together, ‘Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!’ (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)  Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again;  but they kept shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’  A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.’  But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.  So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted.  He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

Reflection

A man is found to be innocent, but mob rule leads to him being crucified. That event is at the heart of our whole faith story. Yet it is still utterly shocking. 
 
Even more shockingly, in many different ways, we see it echoed time and again through history and around the world today. The power of the mob – whether as a physical presence, such as we saw in the riots in Britain last summer, or as a swell of comments on social media, as we have seen all too often leading eventually to the death of a young person – develops a momentum of its own. Mob force can be very hard to challenge, and surprisingly easy to get caught up in. 
 
I will never forget the summer a friend and I were meandering home from CWM Swanwick and decided to make a short stop in Coventry. In the ruins of the old cathedral we discovered that there, that evening, there was to be a performance of the Coventry Mystery Plays. There were two tickets left. We bought them, found ourselves a B&B, had a meal, and returned to the cathedral precinct. The drama moved around the ruins, actors interspersed with audience. My most powerful memory is of the scene in today’s reading. Dotted through the crowd, actors began to shout, ‘Crucify him!’. Others caught on and shouted too. Suddenly I heard my own voice, ‘Crucify him!’. 
 
I was shocked at my own culpability. Yet this has also served as a cautionary tale. It is incredibly easy to get caught up in the moment, the mood, the mob, and in so doing turn on Christ again and again. 
 
Prayer
 
How could they?
How could I?
Jesus, I am sorry 
for the times I have become 
caught up in the mood 
and in so doing turned on you.
Your words, 
engraved by the charred Coventry cross, 
pray ‘Father forgive’.
Father, forgive me.
And, O Christ, 
help me stay true to you, 
even against the flow.
Amen

St Luke 23: 1 – 12

Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate.  They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’  Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He answered, ‘You say so.’  Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no basis for an accusation against this man.’  But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’ When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.  And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. 
When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign.  He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer.  The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.  Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate.  That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

Reflection

When was the last time you tried to “pass the buck”? Attempting to shirk responsibility in a difficult situation is sadly a very natural human trait for so many of us, as Pilate demonstrates in today’s Bible passage. Why bother becoming embroiled in deciding Jesus’s fate when he can simply try to pass the buck to Herod Antipas instead? 

Yet it’s not only politicians and officials such as Pilate who try to pass the buck. Many of us do it in our daily lives too – walking past homeless people, rushing away from volunteers collecting money for charities, ignoring text messages from friends who clearly need to chat. It’s not my responsibility, someone else will deal with it.

Those two worlds of politics and everyday life collide in many of the situations facing our communities. We ignore the pleas for help from local food banks as inflation soars and benefits are cut. We throw items in the bin out of laziness instead of recycling them. We don’t bother to vote in elections, muttering that it “won’t make a difference”.

Instead, we need to stop shrugging our shoulders. While few of us will ever sit at Westminster or Holyrood, Senedd or Tynwald or States, all of us as voters share in the decision-making responsibilities of those whom we elect. We can write emails and letters to press our politicians for action, leaning on the help of the Joint Public Issues Team (https://jpit.org.uk/) or charities such as Christian Aid (https://www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns). 

Once we see God’s face reflected in the people around us, we realise that we can’t shirk our responsibilities, we can’t shrug our shoulders, we can’t pass the buck. Matthew 25: 40 reminds us: “And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”

Prayer

Merciful God,
Please forgive me for those moments 
when I’ve shirked my responsibilities.
Guiding God,
Please help me to recognise 
those moments when I can make a difference.
Energising God,
Please help me to take responsibility, 
to write that letter or email, to use my vote or voice, 
whether I spend my days in a college or university, 
a factory or office, a care home or at home.
In the name of Christ, 
Amen.

St Luke 22: 54 – 71

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, ‘This man also was with him.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know him.’ A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not!’ Then about an hour later yet another kept insisting, ‘Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about!’ At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’  And he went out and wept bitterly.
Now the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him;  they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, ‘Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?’  They kept heaping many other insults on him. When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council.  They said, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe;  and if I question you, you will not answer.  But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’  All of them asked, ‘Are you, then, the Son of God?’ He said to them, ‘You say that I am.’  Then they said, ‘What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!’

Reflection

The Lord turned and looked at Peter.  Then Peter remembered … And he went out and wept bitterly.  Sometimes all it takes for us to realise the scale of our failings is to be looked in the eye by those have let down.   Some years back, within a group discussion on ‘Heaven and Hell’, an Anglican colleague, when asked whether he believed in hell, replied:  “I’d define hell as being looked in the eye by Jesus and being found wanting”.   I suspect that Peter’s behaviour in this passage resonates strongly with many of us.  Bold and ambitious promises dissolving when the pressure is on.    Peter has three opportunities to get it right; he fails on each and, perhaps worst of all, claims he doesn’t know what his inquisitor is talking about.   Promises of loyalty dissolve into denial.   And the risk is that we can also look on with too large a measure of self-satisfaction and judgment (after all, we would never fail so spectacularly … or would we?).  

It only took Jesus’ glance for Peter to leave and weep.  If hours later, in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, Jesus “descended into hell”, it is arguably at this point when Peter descends into his own hell. 

All of this takes place around a fire.   Thankfully the grace of God kindles new flames.  Just days later – the other side of their descent into hell – Jesus and Peter are by a fire (John 21: 9-19).  This time on a beach and, when looked in the eye again by Jesus, Peter is given three more opportunities to affirm his love for Jesus.   And in God’s mercy and grace Peter counters his threefold “no” with a threefold “yes” and is invited afresh to follow him. So, too, whilst all too often we fail to live up to what we promise, God ever invites us to new opportunities to start afresh:  to say “yes” again.

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,
in whose glance we stand exposed and ashamed
for the many times we let you and others down,
we thank you that you rekindle
the flames of God’s grace, mercy and patience,
offering us new opportunities to start afresh.
Enable us to look you and others in the eye
and by the Spirit’s power within us
to match more closely our promises we make
with the way we live and love.
Amen.

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Dr Susan Durber

 
Introduction

Hello, I’m Susan Durber, and I greet you on Palm Sunday from my home in West Wales. I serve as one of the eight Presidents of the World Council of Churches and so I also bring you greetings from the 352 member churches from all over the world. This year the calendars of the churches are aligned so that we are celebrating Holy Week and Easter together: Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Reformed. May we all know the joy of the gospel together! 

Call to Worship

Like the crowds so long ago we will praise God joyfully, saying
Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
If these disciples were silent the stones would shout aloud.
Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
    
Hymn     All Glory, Laud and Honour 
Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans (c. 820) J. M. Neale (1854) Public Domain. 500 Mass Voice Choir recorded live at St Andrew’s Kirk, Chennai, India & used with their kind permission.

All glory, laud, and honour, to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!

You are the King of Israel, great David’s royal Son,
who in the Lord’s name coming, our king and blessèd One. 

All glory, laud, and honour, to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!

The company of angels is praising Thee on high,
while we and all creation together make reply. 

All glory, laud, and honour, to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!

The people of the Hebrews with palms before Thee went;
our praise &  prayer & anthems before Thee we present. 

All glory, laud, and honour, to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!

To Thee before Thy Passion they sang their hymns of praise;
to Thee, now high exalted, our melody we raise. 

All glory, laud, and honour, to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!

Thou didst accept their praises; accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest, Thou good and gracious King: 

All glory, laud, and honour, to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!

Prayers of Praise and Confession

Lord Jesus, on this day the people went out with palms to meet you, 
and we meet you now with our prayers and our praise.
Blessed are you, for you come to us in God’s name!
Blessed are you, for you inspire the deepest joy within us!
Blessed are you, for the whole company of angels
and all creation sings your praise!
With the children who praised you on Palm Sunday,
with all who cried Hosanna, with the crowds who welcomed you
and with those who danced beside you, we offer today our joyful praise!

We offer too our prayer of confession.
We live in world suspicious of joy,  where violence too often breaks out
and in which truth can be stifled by lies.
We confess that our communities do not always welcome strangers,
provide safety for children, or peace for all the people. 
We are sorry for our own sins 
and for the sinfulness of the world in which we share. 

We ask your forgiveness,
we hope for the grace to forgive those who sin against us,
and for the courage to forgive ourselves so that we can begin again. 

Christ, who entered the city in peace and in joy,
bring your peace to us that forgiven and free,
we may cry Hosanna with a pure heart. 
In your name we pray, Amen.

Jesus came to welcome and to forgive, to bring new life and the joy of the Kingdom. Let us receive these holy gifts with gladness! Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

A Prayer Before the Readings

God, open us to the Holy Spirit, that we may hear your Word,
open our hearts to receive it and learn to live it in our daily lives,
today and always, Amen.

Reading     Philippians 2: 5-11

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
   he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death —
   even death on a cross. 

Therefore, God also highly exalted him
   and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
   that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Reading     St Luke 19:28-40

After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!’ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’

Hymn     Make Way, Make Way! 
Graham Kendrick © 1986 Thankyou Music OneLicence A-734713  Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir. Accompanied by Andrew Ellams & produced by Andrew Emison
 
Make way, make way for Christ the King in splendour arrives.
Fling wide the gates and welcome Him into your lives

Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
For the King of kings. (For the King of kings.)
Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
And let His kingdom in.

He comes the broken hearts to heal the prisoners to free.
The deaf shall hear, the lame shall dance, the blind shall see.

Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
For the King of kings. (For the King of kings.)
Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
And let His kingdom in.

And those who mourn with heavy hearts who weep and sigh,
with laughter, joy and royal crown He’ll beautify.

Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
For the King of kings. (For the King of kings.)
Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
And let His kingdom in.

We call you now to worship Him as Lord of all;
to have no gods before Him – their thrones must fall!

Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
For the King of kings. (For the King of kings.)
Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
And let His kingdom in.

Sermon

There was one time, some years ago, when I bunked off the afternoon part of a Synod meeting to go to the circus with my daughter. 

As the men from Latin America toppled on the high wire, we gasped in horror. We ducked as the clowns looked to be throwing water at us. We admired the costumes and peered through the dry ice at the woman who swung from a silver moon held by vast billowing white curtains… There was colour and life and skill. There was movement, pzazz and music. The circus people came up to us and touched us and laughed at us and got us to laugh at them. They were gaudy and over the top and out of this world and it was great… I was transported … just as my father must have been when he joined a circus aged 15. It did me good, for a moment, to stop being serious and enjoy myself.

People take Palm Sunday very seriously. The scholars, generally very serious people, debate what kind of procession this was. Solemn guides in present-day Jerusalem point out the very gate – the one now bricked up that you can see from the Mount of Olives – and they tell you that this is the one through which it was always foretold that the Messiah would come. Weary pilgrims peer through the heat haze and imagine the man on the donkey and the crowds of children waving palms. Or some of the scholars tell us that this was a political demonstration. Here was Jesus declaring his hand, showing the powers of Rome that he was out to challenge them and that he had support among the people. They talk of Jesus as a kind of Che Guevara – and we imagine the disciples as earnest apparatchiks, framing slogans, making strategy and setting objectives – the Peoples Popular Front of Judea. Or people talk of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as more religious than that, part of his devotion to God, his taking part in the Passover celebrations. They imagine him travelling slowly and reflectively, in silence, reverently and with dignity.
 
But I wonder whether perhaps the Palm Sunday procession was not so much like a political protest (which would be very serious) or a religious pilgrimage with quiet voices and solemn faces (serious in a different way), but more like a carnival, a circus parade –  a colourful procession of the beautiful and the grotesque, with children waving and people dancing and singing and laughing and tumbling in the streets. A circus, full of laughter and colour and life, is not trivial, but expresses some things that sober councils and dignified piety and earnest politics sometimes miss. Circuses include those who are not conventional, those who can’t get into other kinds of events. Circuses show you what you never thought human beings could do. Circuses take in all sorts of bad, beautiful and battered people… and they parody the powerful and they get the weak up and dancing. A carnival parade, from ancient times and modern days, has always been about the kind of joy that refuses to lie down, even when times are bad and when people are worse…

Carnivals are a popular kind of movement, run not by the ruling powers, but by the people. Anyone can ride with the circus, even and especially those who are usually excluded from more proper events. Those with bodies which are imperfect. Those who are poor. The unusual, the despised and the often rejected as well as the too, too colourful – the camp and the over the top. And this is where Jesus belongs. So how about thinking of Palm Sunday as the carnival procession of Jesus – whether you think of Notting Hill or Rio de Janeiro – Jesus the tumbling clown who yet has a tear painted on his face as he weeps over Jerusalem – Jesus the clown whose feet in their overlarge shoes already bear the print of nails and whose hands, so skilled at juggling, already begin to bleed. And the palm branches are the dazzling streamers or the batons of the joyful majorettes who welcome Jesus into the city – and who just don’t care what the serious and sophisticated people think…

There is a wonderful kind of defiant joy about a circus parade or a carnival – as people dance proudly down the street strutting their stuff. Jesus’ followers were a right parade when you think of it; fast women, those with twisted bodies, the poor and the dirty, collaborators, tiny little Zacchaeus – a strange crew of the down and out in Jerusalem. Jesus and his followers must have known at some level that they were on the losing side. And Jesus had spoken often enough about how being with him was going to be about losing your life before you gained it. But even so, even so, they decided to parade into the city with their heads up, shouting Hosanna anyway because, losers and oddballs they might be, they knew that God was truly with them. 

Jesus belongs with the ones who come into their own on carnival day. As well as the clown with the tear, he is the one whose trousers do not fit and whose features are not even.  He sits not with the powerful, but tumbles onto the colourful streets with the children who shout Hosanna – and who forget that you’re not supposed to make a noise. Remember that Jesus told the story of the banquet that the invited ones wouldn’t come to – and so all the drop outs and undesirables get to go instead, in a gorgeous celebration of human life. 

Who knows what the long-term future is for the ways of faith we’ve long treasured? But we don’t have to be on the up to be rejoicing, because the joy that Christians share does not depend on conventional success or winning. It’s more like the circus style rejoicing that, however weird things look, or however much we may be on the outside of things, God is with us. We can be all that we are and proudly, and shout Hosanna! and Praise the Lord! while we’ve breath in our bodies and a song to sing. 

Palm Sunday helps us to celebrate the joy that refuses to be beaten down, the joy that seems to belong to the most broken, the joy that belongs to Jesus. It’s a kind of protest joy – that says – ‘I know things look bad for us and all sorts of people’ but we are going to refuse to be victims.. we’re going to defy the odds and rejoice anyway.. come what may.

I’ve known lots of people in my life who really know how to rejoice, even when, if you were really being serious, you wouldn’t think of it. I used to visit a woman who lived in a tower block on the 10th floor – the lift smelling of pee and the damp lifting the wallpaper off the concrete walls. ‘Come on in’, she would say to me, ‘and look at my wonderful view!’ We smiled together as we lifted our eyes to the hills. I once knew a little girl of six who had to be fed by a tube and who needed every possible help at school, but who loved nothing more than to dance for joy. I have known Christian women from Zambia who knew how to laugh and feast even when there was so much poverty and death, and when there were only peanuts with which to make a feast. I have known a saintly woman who was caring for her very sick husband but who could only say, ‘We have so many reasons to be thankful’. I once sat with a woman who had not much time to live and we watched the Vicar of Dibley together and laughed until our sides ached.. 

And I remember the story of a Jewish woman called Etty who lived in Amsterdam, who, even in a camp waiting to go to Auschwitz, could notice the redness of the flowers by the fence and who refused to let suffering consume her. She worked hard to help others who were suffering, but she also had a particular way of fighting suffering. She refused to let it win. She protested against it with her determination to go on believing that ‘life is beautiful’. For her, suffering was always being assailed by contrary powers, by beauty and joy. She believed that writers, artists, and lovers were there to guard the sacred from being locked away by suffering. While some have argued that you can’t write poetry in Auschwitz, Etty Hillesum would say that you must write poetry in such places – because it is creative resistance, it is a refusal to let the dark extinguish the light. Life is beautiful.. 

The Palm Sunday parade was perhaps a kind of creative resistance.. a last hurrah before Holy Week –a determination that joy should be the note we sing .. whatever comes. Palm Sunday may be the beginning of the week of suffering, a week in which the sun will be made dark and the earth will crack, a week of passion and pain. And this is how life is. We know this. But we don’t have to let it win. We will celebrate and protest and be joyful, no matter what. We will tumble in the streets and celebrate with singing and invite anyone to join us, and rejoice. 

I wonder how well you know Paul’s letter to the Philippians. He wrote it from a Roman prison and he probably thought his time was up. But the letter is so full of joy. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice’ he says – from a stinking, cold, damp cell in the corner of an Empire that he knew was not God’s Kingdom. Joy was his protest and his statement of faith.

Joy is what is real. Hosanna is the song we shall sing. So, sing it now and live it now, even as the darkness deepens and the hammers fall upon the nails. Do not let the darkness win, but defy it with joy – like the bright colours of the circus in the grey light of winter, like the sounds of women laughing in the cold streets, like crosses from El Salvador in bright primary colours, like the cries of children shouting Hosanna to greet the preacher from Nazareth, who would save us all. Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Amen. 

Hymn     Lord of the Dance 
Sydney Carter © 1963, Stainer & Bell, Ltd, (admin. by Hope Publishing Co.) OneLicence A-734713  Sung by members of Peninsula United Church, South Surrey & White Rock, Canada

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
and I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
at Bethlehem I had my birth.

“Dance, then, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance,” said he.
“I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, I will lead you all in the Dance,” said he.

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
but they would not dance and they wouldn’t follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and for John;
they came with me and the dance went on. 

“Dance, then, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance,” said he.
“I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, I will lead you all in the Dance,” said he.

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame,
the holy people, they said it was a shame;
they whipped and they stripped and they hung me high,
and they left me there on a cross to die. 

“Dance, then, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance,” said he.
“I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, I will lead you all in the Dance,” said he.

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;
it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
they buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
but I am the dance and I still go on. 

“Dance, then, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance,” said he.
“I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, I will lead you all in the Dance,” said he.

They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die,
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
“I am the Lord of the Dance,” said he. 

“Dance, then, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance,” said he.
“I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, I will lead you all in the Dance,” said he.

Affirmation of Faith 

This is the gate of the Lord; those who are righteous may enter.
I will give thanks to you, for you answered me,
and have become my salvation.
    
The same stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.

On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 
Hosanna Lord, hosanna! Lord, send us now success.

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
God is the Lord; he has shined upon us;
form a procession with branches up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will thank you; You are my God and I will exalt you.
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; His mercy endures for ever. 

Offering

Let us now receive the offerings of us all and offer our lives to God. 

O God, who offers us the gift of joy,
we offer to you our lives and all we have,
that we may be bearers of joy to each other
and to your beloved world,
in the name of your Son, 
who was received with joy, as he entered the city on this day. 

Prayer over the Crosses 

O God, may these crosses be signs of good news for us this week,
and bring blessing to our homes and our lives.
Let them reveal to us the joy of Palm Sunday,
remind us of the mystery of the cross,
and lead us on to the celebration of Easter,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. 

Hymn     My Song is Love Unknown
Samuel Crossman (1664) Public Domain sung by the choir of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia and used with their kind permission.

My song is love unknown– 
my Saviour’s love to me;
love to the loveless shown, 
that they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I, that for my sake
my Lord should take frail flesh and die?

He came from His blest throne 
salvation to bestow;
but folk made strange, 
and none the longed for Christ would know.
But oh, my Friend, my Friend indeed,
who at my need His life did spend!

Sometimes they strew His way,
and His sweet praises sing;
resounding all the day
hosannas to their King.
Then “Crucify!” is all their breath,
and for His death they thirst & cry.

They rise, and needs will have
my dear Lord made away.
A murderer they save;
the Prince of Life they slay.
Yet cheerful He to suff’ring goes,
that He His foes from thence might free.

In life, no house, no home
my Lord on earth might have;
in death, no friendly tomb
but what a stranger gave.
What may I say? 
Heav’n was His home;
but mine the tomb 
wherein He lay. 

Here might I stay and sing – 
no story so divine!
Never was love, dear King, 
never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend, in whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.
 
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

O God, we thank you for the joy,
deeper than any sorrow,
which you bring to us and with which you bless us.

Help us to find this joy and to live it
as a blessing for the world. 
May there be times for all of us when we can let go of the things 
that bind us to sorrow and fear,
so that we can praise you and let our hearts may dance. 
Let us be bearers of true joy to the world.

We pray for those who are sad or suffering.
We pray for those for whom depression or anxiety
brings a denial of joy, that they may find healing and release.

We pray for those made sad by loss and death,
that they may grieve honestly and freely
and find even in grief true comfort and hope.

We pray for those saddened by disappointment,
by betrayal, or by the failure of something important to them.
May they find healing and hope again.

We pray for all who are ill, and who for those who love them,
for those who have heard fearful news from the doctor
or who worry about their own state of mind. 
Bring them peace and the certain comfort of love. 

We pray for places scourged by violence and war,
for lands where there is poverty and hunger, 
for the powerless, and for nations where hubris and wealth
bring blindness to the needs of others. 

O Christ, who entered the city in peace and was greeted with joy,
bring your peace and your joy to our world
and to your Church, this day and every day. 

Silence…

O God, 
hear our prayers, spoken and offered in silence.
Show us where we may  begin to answer them ourselves
or persuade others to answer them.
And where we can do little, help us to trust in your unfailing love.
In Christ’s name, Amen.

Hymn     Ride On, Ride On in Majesty 
Henry Hart Milman (1827) Public Domain Sung by the choir of St Michael and All Angels, Bassett and used with their kind permission.
 
Ride on, ride on in majesty!
Hark all the tribes hosanna cry;
O Saviour meek, pursue Thy road
with palms and scattered garments strowed.

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die:
O Christ, Thy triumphs now begin
o’er captive death and conquered sin.

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
The wingéd squadrons of the sky
look down with sad and wond’ring eyes
to see th’approaching sacrifice.

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
The last and fiercest strife is nigh.
The Father on His sapphire throne
awaits His own anointed Son.
 
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 pow’r and reign.

Dismissal and Blessing

May the Christ who came to the city
and who provoked a carnival of hosannas
come to your heart, your life, 
this church and our world,
to bring joy and hope. 
And the blessing of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you this Palm Sunday and always. Amen.

St Luke 22: 47 – 53

While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him;  but Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?’  When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, ‘Lord, should we strike with the sword?’  Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.  But Jesus said, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched his ear and healed him.  Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit?  When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!’

Reflection

It was dark; the crowd and Temple Guard wouldn’t have been able to distinguish Jesus, so Judas had to point him out – betraying him with a kiss.  What might have been a simple act of greeting has become a poignant cultural reference.  

Who amongst us hasn’t been betrayed by a kiss?  We might have been roughly dealt with in a relationship, taken for a fool, given the best years of our lives to another only to have it thrown back at us.  There again we might have mistaken lust for love, not adjusted as a relationship matured, looked for excitement instead of stability,  and committed our own treacherous kissing. 

The relationship between Judas and Jesus has exercised the minds of commentators for most of the Church’s history.  Was Judas provoking Jesus into action?  Was he bored with all the God talk and wanted a bit of revolution?  Was he jealous?  Was he simply greedy?  There again human relationships are complex; there’s rarely just one reason why a relationship breaks down, why a betrayal happens, why we’re betrayed in our kissing. Seeking to understand our motivations and the motives of those we love can be demanding and exhausting but, as in pondering Judas’ motivations, can lead to fuller understanding and even peace.

Prayer

O God, when routine bites hard, 

ambitions are low, and resentment rides high, 

help us when our emotions won’t grow,

when we want to change our ways 

and take different roads,

that even as love might tear 

our relationships and friendships apart,

we won’t betray another with our kisses.

Amen

with thanks to Joy Division

11 April 2025

St Luke 22: 30 – 38

Jesus said: Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat,  but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’  And he said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!’  Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.’ He said to them, ‘When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?’ They said, ‘No, not a thing.’  He said to them, ‘But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one.  For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, “And he was counted among the lawless”; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.’  They said, ‘Lord, look, here are two swords.’ He replied, ‘It is enough.’

Reflection

30 years ago, the churches in the town where I live got together and set up a youth centre where the kids could hang out whilst they grew up.  At some point during that 30 year journey, there was a call for a volunteer to chair the committee that oversees the operation of the youth centre and manages the charity that owns the building.  Supporting the development of young people is something that is close to my heart, so when I was approached to take on this role, I readily agreed.
 
I quickly learned that whilst the youth centre was extremely successful in supporting the young people through their adolescence, there were two fundamental problems affecting the management and administration of the charity.  I also realised that I was not equipped to resolve either of them!  Sometimes, like Simon (Peter), we readily jump in to serve without fully appreciating the difficulties and dangers that lie ahead.  A bit like Simon (Peter), I publicly avoided discussion of the difficulties that the charity faced.

However, in the following weeks and months, two other people joined the management committee.  They each had the skills and resolve to tackle the problems we faced and they set about leading us towards their resolution.  They understood that the one who has the purse must take it, and the one who has no sword must sell his cloak to buy one.  When action is needed, and we are the ones with the skills and experience, we need to stop hiding in the shadows and instead step forward into the light.

More than 15 years later, thanks to the gracious support and encouragement of my fellow Christians I remain chairman of the management committee of a successful ecumenical charity [1], but I have learned that God is in control of our youth project, not me!

[1] www.streetlevelcarluke.org

Prayer

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Amen

(The Serenity Prayer)

St Luke 22: 24 – 29
 

A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.  But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors.  But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. ‘You are those who have stood by me in my trials;  and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom,  so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Reflection
 

Recently I led a Lenten day retreat in Nairn URC.  26 people turned up to talk about Jesus!  More specifically how Jesus has been portrayed in four pieces of art.  Fascinated by a Coptic presentation of Jesus as Good Shepherd, mostly annoyed by a Filipino portrayal of an angry Jesus, generally delighted by Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross, the piece that provoked the most energy – and examination –  was Sieger Köder’s The Washing of the Feet which is reproduced at the top of today’s Devotion.  At the Last Supper Jesus enfleshed what he spelt out to His disciples in today’s passage – servant leadership.  He didn’t decry leadership – those squabbling disciples were, after all, promised a kingdom and thrones.  Leadership, however, was to be different in the Kingdom.  No lording it over others, no being served but serving.  It’s why some traditions have foot washing on Maundy Thursday where the person nominally in charge washes feet; most famously Pope Francis has, in previous years, gone to Rome’s prison to wash the feet of prisoners.  Some black-led churches in America hold that when Jesus said “do this in memory of me” he also meant foot washing and, in those traditions, Communion is only celebrated in the context of the washing of each other’s feet.  

Now I’m not suggesting that as a change in our Communion rites but I wonder how different our world might be if we really expected our leaders, in church and state, to be servants.  What if we really expected there to be no freebies, just the pay allotted for the job?  What if we really expected simple, trustworthy leadership which was not ashamed to show service?  One of the things that attracted me to the URC in the first place was a distinct lack of clericalism; those newly ordained or newly inducted expecting to be in charge soon find that their ideas are firmly put in their place!  Conciliar leadership does rather help in keeping us humble.

St Luke 22 14 – 23

When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him.  He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;  for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves;  for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’  Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’  And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.  But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table.  For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!’  Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.

Reflection

Of all the Gospel writers, Luke is the one who most determinedly identifies the meal that Jesus shared with his disciples before he was betrayed as a Passover meal. 

If you are used to the words that are normally said in church as part of the Communion liturgy, Luke’s version raises some questions!  If you read the New Revised Standard Version (as above) Jesus seems to repeat himself and there is more than one cup. If you read the Revised English Bible, by contrast, some verses are not there, eliminating the apparent repetition (verses 19b and 20 are omitted if you want to check). It’s to do, in part, with which ancient manuscripts the translators rely on. But it’s also about expectations. The problem of the repetition (of the two cups) is not there if you really take seriously Luke’s account that this meal was a Passover meal, where there was more than one symbolic cup and maybe as many as four. What you then see is Jesus sharing a Passover meal, and giving parts of it a renewed meaning. He has ‘eagerly desired’ to eat the Passover meal – it means everything to him, as a meal bringing into the present the liberating story of the past. And Jesus, at the cost again of the shedding of blood, is another part of that liberating story. God set free those enslaved in Egypt and Jesus came to set free the enslaved in his present and in our future. The bread and wine are signs of precious and profound history but also of the promise of the Kingdom of God to come, when all creation will be free. Jesus is painting himself, and with him those who follow him, into the story of God’s covenant with the people.

When you next share bread and wine around the table, whether at home or in church, remember those who have done the same over the centuries in hope of liberation. Never betray the freedom that was won for all God’s children, long ago in Egypt, and once for all on the cross. 

Prayer

Thank you God of all creation, 
that in bread and wine, 
you make plain your promise of freedom. 
Thank you God of Jesus Christ, 
that in broken bread and shared cups
you reveal your presence.
Thank you God the Holy Spirit,
that as we share food around common tables,
you bless and hallow our living.
May your desire to meet with us
be met by our faithfulness
to the covenant you make,
today and always, Amen.