Mailout for 2 April (Palm Sunday, Year A)

Dear People of God

Grace and peace be with you

There’s a rhythm in our liturgical year: the weeks leading up to Christmas are associated with a sense of expectation, of looking afresh for the coming of the Incarnate Word, culminating in the joy of Christmas.

There’s a counter-cycle as we enter the solemnities of Passiontide and Holy Week, sinking into the solemn observance of Good Friday, then beginning a step upward climb into the explosive joy of Easter! Many if you will remember Fr Bob Winder: Fr Bob lived the cycle fully, almost sinking into a coma during Holy Week and really living the explosive joy of Easter as we lit the New Fire, renewed Baptismal Vows, and rang the bell to welcome Easter! May we too share this Holy Week Pilgrimage in heart and mind!

I remind you of the Holy Week and Easter Liturgies, which are:

[Edit: times changed to align to those in monthly newsletter]

Maundy Thursday: 7:00 pm Beresfield: Liturgy of the Institution of the Last Supper, Stripping of the Altar (no footwashing, although it is a worthwhile and highly symbolic practice, but back and knee issues make it almost impossible to me to get up with any degree of dignity!)

Good Friday: 8:00am Thornton: Ante-communion and Veneration of the Cross

Easter Eve: 6:00 pm Thornton: Lighting of the New Fire, Baptisms and Renewal of Baptismal Vows, Eucharist of the Easter Vigil

Easter Day: 9:30am Beresfield: Eucharist of Easter

Our thanks to the people who organised and ran the Fashion Parade last weekend: $560 was raised which is wonderful, but equally or even more importantly, it was an opportunity for people to come together in a friendly atmosphere in the church hall. “More strength to the organisers’ arm!”

The Mothers’ Day raffle tickets are now available at the entry of both churches and in the Op Shop. When you take a book of tickets please remember to enter your name and against the ticket book number, and to return to stubs of the sold tickets (and the money!) prior to the date for the draw!

There will not be full mailout next week, due to the pressures of a rather full week coming up!

Too few days available!

With every good wish for a blessed Holy Week and joyous Easter

Fr George

gmainprize@bigpond.com

0410 586 119

PROPERS for Palm Sunday

Liturgy of the Palms

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Matthew 21:1-11 The entry to Jerusalem

Liturgy of the Passion

Sentence

At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bend, in haven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ s Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)

Collect (at St Michael’s)

Everlasting God, in you tender love for the human race you sent you Son to take our nature, and to suffer death on the cross: in your mercy enable us to share in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(at St Paul’s)

God of all, you gave your only-begotten Son to take the form of a servant, and to be obedient even to death on a cross; give us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus that, sharing in his humility, we may come to be with him in his glory, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Readings

Isaiah 50:4-9a The servant’s humiliation and vindication

Psalm 31:9-18 Prayer, and praise for deliverance

Philippians 2:5-11 Imitating Christ’s humility

Matthew 26:14-27 The Passover with the disciples

Sermon (Fr George)

In the Name of God. Amen

Think about Palms for a moment. What image does the word conjure up for you?

Palm Island: tropical island off Townsville?

Palm Cove: suburb of Cains with a great beach?

Palm tree: one of many species of shrub or tree, growing in a tropical or warm climate?

Palm of victory: an award for winning (eg Palm d’Or awarded at the Cannes Film Festival)

Palm leaf: symbol of martyr in religious art

Palm: something off: reject or avoid something?

Palm Sunday: anti-war peace rally, Sunday before Easter, Jesus entry to Jerusalem?

Carved upon his palms: intimately known to God?

There’s eight different options for you.

The gospel writers tell us abut Jesus entry into Jerusalem. Matthew, Mark and Luke place this event and the Cleansing of the Temple near the climax of their narratives. They have condensed the ministry of Jesus into one year, with the final confrontation with the religious authorities or the power brokers, whatever you like to call them, leading immediately to the crucifixion. For them the cleansing of the temple is a part of the imminence of the new order of things, where God is restored to primacy over Israel and the confrontation is brought on. John, by way of contrast, extends Jesus ministry over three years and the cleansing of the Temple is placed at the very beginning: John wants to stress that in Jesus the New Order is present and Restoration is at hand. The entry to Jerusalem come near the climax of his gospel with very deliberate signs of the New Kingdom, as the crowds greet the One who comes in the Name of the Lord! One who comes with the very imprimatur of God.

I have certain ideas as to who organised the donkey for the entry, and as to who booked the Upper Room and the catering, but that’s a topic for another time.

There are some very deliberate actions of Jesus here.

Kings rode mules or horses. Conquerors generally rode horses. Jesus comes on the transport of the common people: donkeys were pack animals or conveyances for farmers. King Charles will go to and from his coronation in the State Coach or at the very least a Rolls Royce or a Daimler. He is not likely to go in a ute with the remnants of the bales of hay in the back. Jesus is making a statement about the kingdom which he in inaugurating: he amplifies this further when he takes the role of the servant and washes the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper, when he has inaugurated what we celebrate here in the Holy Eucharist. It’s not a kingship of lording it over people but of the sort of service that enables people to BE people, created in the image of God. All of his ministry was directed to this end.

So here’s where some of the images of “palms” come in.

The people wave palms and throw them on the ground as cover for the road for the king’s donkey. They treat him as the most important person they know. We have taken a palm cross this morning as a sign of our commitment to this kingdom. How are we going to live that commitment out?

Palms are a sign of a martyr. Look at some of the stained glass windows and religious-themed paintings. Martyrs are commonly depicted with the instrument of the martyrdom and a palm of victory in their hand. Martyrs have a single-minded commitment to their faith. Waving palms is a symbol of the martyrdom shortly to come.

“Carved on the palm of my hand”: God’s promise to maintain his faithfulness to his people. Some people will tell you that the expression means that God has scored the life of his people literally into his hands and you may want to interpret this as the marks of the crucifixion on Jesus’ hands (actually the wrists, because nailing through the hands would not support the body on the cross) but it refers to that intimacy of a master carver carving a child’s doll in his hand, where it takes the very contours of the carver’s hand. We are “conformed to Christ”, literally taking his shape.

Holy Week is a good time to consider how we are to be conformed to Christ. Martyrdom can take many forms and one is to bear with patience the ridicule that sometimes comes from a determinately secular society because we put our faith in something that cannot be “scientifically proved” or observed either through a microscope or telescope.

Would someone look at us and say “here is one who comes in the name of the Lord”?

Travel with Jesus into Jerusalem; go into your inner temple with Him and get rid of all those things which detract from the holiness of God. Not an easy journey, I suggest. And if you want to be truly radical, look at our ecclesiastical structures and ask how they speak to the glory of God.

Amen

Intercessions

There are some special intercessions for Palm Sunday which we will at the appropriate time.

Inclusions

The Church: our sister church in Guadalcanal, the Episcopal Church of the Philippines, and in Australia the Anglican Board of Mission Australia. In our own Diocese we pray for our Bishop Peter and assisting Bishops Charlie and Sonia. Give them a loving care of all clergy and people in the Diocese. Give them wisdom in all their dealings. We especially pray today for Scone Grammar School and the Parishes of Denman-Merriwa and Murrurundi.

The Sick: : Doug and Jenny, Indi, Barbara D, Val Frazer, Lynn, Betty, Les, Jill, Ann, Daphne, Bruce, Debbie M, Samuel, John J, Merv T, Nicole M, Jenny H, Didi, Margaret, Peter McC, Susan, Elizabeth, Dawn A, Heidi, Wendy F, Peter, Vicki L, Laurie, Jenny M, Val D, Ben, Keith M, Sammy J and Noah, Stuart McInnes, Sue T, Keith and Hettie, Hope, Mick Atkins, Derek, Zoe, and for those whom we name in silence before you.

The Departed: : those whose anniversary of death is at this time Cornelius Wilson and those known only to ourselves.

A footnote

“Maundy” Thursday comes from the Latin word “mandatum” meaning “command. The Governor-General issues the mandate for a General Election, literally a command that the election be held and the writs are duly issued. Jesus “commanded” his disciples to “do this in remembrance of me”. The word “remembrance” is taken to mean “re-member”, to bring the past into the present, so the command may be interpreted as “do this, in order that I may be truly present among you”.