Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday always fills me with a sense of foreboding but also a sense of immense beauty. Jesus is returning, coming home to the place where God resides - Jerusalem. But this is also a new journey, a beginning beyond all expectations. The death bells are already ringing - we hear the story of the passion. A great, glorious tragedy.

Jesus said the stones would cry out for him if the voices which mourned His passing were silenced. These events change the whole world and are for the whole world.

I have been thinking about a Christmas carol - O Little Town of Bethlehem - and pondering silence. I do not think that Bethlehem was very quiet for Jesus but silence is so often about finding God's quiet in the midst of all that we are and all that we do. Even amongst the chanting crowds waving palms and excitement there is a thread of silence developing, a thread which will drift through the paths and alleys of the Holy City and linger in the hillside dust.

This quality of silence, this place in the heart of God is our place of pilgrimage this week.

Hosanna! Hosanna! Son of David! Reverence and growing dread.

Jesus, make us mindful of you as you claim your crown. Lighten our darkness, fill our empty spaces and bring us to you. Amen.