It's been a long time since I last blogged - almost exactly 6 months in fact. I've been toying with the idea of returning to the blogosphere for a while - I'd rather do it regularly or not at all - and have decided to go for it. Maybe twice a week? We'll see.
It's Palm Sunday, and the beginning of Holy Week seems a good time to start again. This morning, we made extensive use of video and PowerPoint: it will be so much better when, God willing, we install permanent projection equipment and screens this summer. At the moment we manage with a rickety old screen and a projector mounted on old hymn books (knew they'd come in useful!). The service began with a video showing Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, to the soundtrack of the intermezzo from Sibelius' Karelia Suite. It was powerful. In the talk, we considered the style of Messiahship Jesus chose, having first considered the style of different football managers. This seemed appropriate on the weekend when Liverpool and Everton advanced further to 1st/4th positions in the Premiership. All would agree that their respective managers have much to do with their success. We noted the fact that Jesus seemed oblivious to the crowd, not waving or acknowledging them in any way, centring himself not on popular adulation but on the journey before him, to the Cross and beyond. It was this unflinching obedience to the Father that enabled him to enter deeply into the human experience. 'There is nothing he does not fully know. There is no one he does not fully love.' (Henri Nouwen).
My prayer for this week: Jesus, take me with you on your journey. But this is not just a personal journey for an individual Christian. Gatherings of people are very much part of the story: on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday, in large number; and that small group around the upper room and in Gethsemane on the night Jesus was betrayed. Members of All Hallows, St Barnabas and Mossley Hill: let's make this a week to share.
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