Palm Sunday 2017

What side of the road

There is the wonderful Irish story about the tourist travelling by car down a back country lane. He stops at a gate where there is a local standing and asks for directions. After telling the tourist to take to rights and three lefts after the fork in the road by the large tree where he is to go right, the local then says in parting after the tourist has given a number of profound thank yous, That’s OK but I wouldn’t go from here if I where you.

One of the great hymns we sing begins “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess’’ This hymn comes from Paul’s epistle to the

It is speaking about the return of Jesus to complete the work that is begun on Good Friday It reminds me that both events are tied to each other.

So we are asking the question What side of the road are we on?

The Play

We have a two part play

the characters are Jesus, a donkey, two disciples servants of the donkeys owner and a crowd

We have simple props waving palm branches and colourful clothing

Part one of the play is noisy, exciting and busy as Jesus enters into Jerusalem in triumph fated by the population

We are products of a cultural setting

The queen trooping the colours on a horse

Jesus on a donkey

Waving branches

Strewn clothing

Exultant cries

All the miracles that Jesus had done were known

Lazarus would have been big news

Yet within 4 days Hosanna had become crucify

Where would we stand, what side iof the road would i be on

We see so often people getting caught up in the euphoria of the moment whatever the emotion

There was a high school teacher in the 1960’s in California who created a club in the school