Rev. Kath McBride:  01904 489349
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Church Street, Dunnington

York, YO19 5PW

Sunday 5 April, Palm Sunday

Today, in churches across the land, the tradition would be for the long reading of the Passion narrative (this year it is Matthew 26.14 to the end of chapter 27 – give it a go). In some churches it is dramatized, even with donkeys and giant branches, processions and full audience/congregational participation. This year, we will have to imagine the scene, the gathering, the drama!

Collect for Palm Sunday

Almighty and everlasting God,

who in your tender love towards the human racesen

t your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ

to take upon him our flesh

and to suffer death upon the cross:

grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,

and also be made partakers of his resurrection;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

 

Start being so dramatic!

Lent, as we all know, leads into Easter, but not just chronologically. Lent builds the tension and sets the scene so that Easter can take its place. Imagine, if you will, walking into the festivities of a family Christmas Day without having done any of the decorating, shopping, preparing, worrying, gathering, wrapping, sending, cooking – nothing! It couldn't possibly feel right. The anticipation that comes with the build up to the season is what makes the celebration so special. We observe the rituals of Christmas as they are inherited in our families, and without observing them, the day, when it comes, is simply not the same.

The same has to be true of Easter, though we eschew the gifting and decorating on the whole, and often the big family gathering. But the day, when it comes, is the product of the preparation. Like the gestation period of pregnancy, the great joy often comes because of great anticipation. So it is with Easter: unless we enter into the experience of Lent, and the rites that go along with it, how can we fully celebrate Easter Sunday? Surprisingly, however, this is the practice of the majority of Christians. To experience the visceral nature of fasting, the drama of Palm Sunday, the intimacy and oddness of Maundy Thursday, the desolation of Good Friday, and the emptiness of Holy Saturday, is to prepare the soul for the Rising Son on Easter morn.

“Don't be so dramatic” is a common parenting edict, put is a poor liturgical rubric. Today is a dramatic day, full of tension, betrayal and abandonment. We feel it in our guts today, so we can feel it in our hearts next Sunday.

Revd Nick Bird

Read more about Holy Week and Easter at stnicholasdunnington.org.uk/about-us/easter/

 

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