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Tag Archives: Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday – A Highway to Hell?

03 Friday Apr 2020

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in christ, Personal, theology

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COVID-19, Harrowing, Hell, Palm Sunday, peace

Photo by Jiarong Deng on Pexels.com

Only four weeks ago Canning Highway in Perth was packed tight as thousands of fans commemorated Bon Jovi and AccaDacca’s “Highway to Hell” famous signature song vibrating from bands on a fleet of tray-top trucks as they rolled from Canning Bridge to Fremantle.

Four weeks later Perth’s highways are all but deserted as we self-isolate in a mass attempt to avert the worst effects of the Covid-19 corona virus.

Some would point to the “Highway to Hell” celebrations as a harbinger of doom, but Covid-19 was already well established in some pockets of the globe and well on its way here.

And now Palm Sunday is upon us. An occasion to reflect and reminisce on past Palm Sunday processions with Sunday School kids waving palms as they usher the congregation into services. Some brave churches even commandeer donkeys (well fasted!) to be ridden up the aisle of the sanctuary. The socially conscious rally outside city cathedrals to march for peace – taking their cue from the one who they named the Prince of Peace.

Perhaps only Jesus, the focus of the original procession, knew what a highway to hell he was travelling. A few short but long days of passion, betrayal, trial, abandonment, torture and suffering to beyond the point of death lay ahead – and he knew it. He had a purpose beyond our ken however – Christian scripture and tradition refer to the Harrowing of Hell performed by Christ between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. You can read about it here.

8 days B4 Good Friday

22 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal, Spirituality, theology

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Alexander Shaia, Easter, Good Friday, Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday, Triduum

candleToday the lectionary gives us Mark’s terse account of the crucifixion.  Why so early? We haven’t even engaged the joyful and celebratory Palm Sunday celebrations yet.

Worship planners are often flummoxed when coming to the Revised Common Lectionary to plan Palm Sunday celebrations. They are confronted with a choice – Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday. Either pull out all the stops on palm leaves and hosannas or focus on what happens afterwards, particularly the crucifixion of Jesus.

Some will opt for celebration – shorter passage, less angst. Others, noting that many eschew the solemnity of Good Friday services, choose the longer passion narrative in order to present the completeness of the passion, crucifixion, resurrection story by the time the faithful return next Sunday (if they aren’t taking advantage of the extra long weekend elsewhere).

Many get lost in the confusion and herein lies the challenge for contemporary Christian communicators. How to convey the drama of the Easter message, the core of the Christian understanding of inspiration, transformation and spent living in a way that entices and awakens a world that is mostly only half awake.

Ancient church rites centred on the Triduum may hold a key. Contemporary reworkings of the practice as suggested by Alexander Shaia in the following podcast may even be a good start to re-entering the journey of Easter:

https://jamesprescott.podbean.com/e/shaia-easter/

Radical Palm Sunday

20 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal, refugees, Spirituality, theology

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asylum seekers, Palm Sunday, refugees

#OutOfLimbo #Justice4RefugeesThis Sunday’s Palm Sunday Walk for Refugees from Perth’s St George’s Cathedral will repeat a tradition that has grown over recent years. Palm Sunday events commemorate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding the colt of a donkey – the ultimate symbol of peace. It was a high festival time in Jerusalem with pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean. Jesus’ peaceful entry was in stark contrast to the arrival on the other side of the city of Governor Pilate and his military cohort to reinforce crowd control. Mark 11:1-11 is one telling of the story

Palm Sunday commemorations highlight ways of peace and reconciliation in contrast to dominating powers of coercion and control. It will be a crazy mix, just as the Jerusalem crowds were. There will be contemplative Christians, singing Christians, shouting socialists, bemused bystanders, and those simply seeking to stand alongside destitute men, women and children who have been demonised and incarcerated indefinitely by our authorities for daring to claim asylum in unapproved circumstances.

Together we will be claiming the radical hope that love and justice will prevail. There have been enough Good Fridays. Let Easter Sunday prevail!

Palm Sunday: come walking with us

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal

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Manus, Nauru, Palm Sunday, peace, refugees

Palm Sunday marches – what do they achieve?
Hear Perth’s Fr Chris and come and join us in Perth (1pm at St George’s Cathedral) or at one near where you live.

What drives Palm Sunday Peace Parades?

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal, refugees, Spirituality

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Palm Sunday, refugees

downloadOn Sunday, many thousands will march for peace. In Perth, leaving from St George’s Cathedral at 1 pm, those gathered will join others around the country in marching for justice for refugees.

Inspiration for Palm Sunday Marches has a long tradition of drawing on the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the eve of his Passion. Like a king of ancient times, he rides through the city gates, not as a conquering despot, but as a focus for the kind of peace the Bible calls shalom – complete integrity for all of creation expressed in whole relationships, especially in terms of justice and righteousness. Today’s text, Matthew 21:1-11, gives one rendition.

Marcus Borg draws attention to two triumphal entries into Jerusalem that day. One by Roman governor Pontius Pilate, representing the power and military might of empire to keep order and maintain the status quo – the other by Jesus, ushering the dawn of a new era heralding justice and peace. What these two triumphal entries represent is the continuing tension between the push to maintain the comfort of order and equilibrium, no matter how unjust, and the pull towards transformation towards comprehensive healing, integrity and wholeness.

Jesus’triumphal entry into Jerusalem thus becomes a powerful focus and icon for many who will march this Sunday.

Palm Sunday Reflections

17 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal

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Holy Week, Palm Sunday, postaday2011

The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sund...

Image via Wikipedia

I found that local primary school children were very quick to link the reign of the Palm Sunday “Prince of Peace” with the values of the Sermon on the Mount – the term’s lessons on generosity, forgiveness, trust and peacefulness. I recall my adolescent “aha!” experience when linking the Vietnam Conflict Peace Marches with the Palm Sunday rites.

As the drama of Holy Week, the period that begins with Palm Sunday and ends Easter Sunday, unfolds, it is instructive to allow the journey of Jesus to speak into our own journey. The Palm Sunday procession of welcome anticipates the hostility that arises when the implications of spending the currency of Christ’s reign begins to dismantle and threaten dehumanising but familiar, comforting  institutional structures. The irritant must be removed.  So “Crucify!” “Turn the boats back!” “Cut off their payments!”

But, in the meantime, “Hosanna to the Prince of Peace!”

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