Palm crosses

The whole of Holy Week is in the crosses we give to each worshipper who comes on Palm Sunday; our next First Sunday Thing falls on Palm Sunday so everyone who comes will be given one then. They are made of palm leaves just as it was palm branches which were waved by the adoring crowd welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem on the Sunday. They are fashioned into crosses just as the crosses stood on the hill on which Jesus was executed on the Friday.

The importance of 5th April

Holy Week (the eight days from Palm Sunday to Easter Day) is the most significant part of the whole Christian year. It matches day for day the last week of Jesus’ life from entering Jerusalem, through Last Supper (on Maundy Thursday) and crucifixion (on Good Friday) to resurrection. It allows us to follow the events which are covered by about a third of the Gospel accounts. So the First Sunday Thing on Palm Sunday, which will include activities relating to different parts of Holy Week, is an opportunity to touch the heart of what this is all about.

Palm Sunday

The First Sunday Thing moves to St Nicolas' for the first time on 5th April. Plans are in hand for the different activities at the beginning to illustrate or explore the events from Palm Sunday to Good Friday; there will even be a table from which to sample the sorts of Passover food which would have been shared at Jesus' Last Supper. The simple service which will follow will be based on a Palm Sunday procession.

Teach us how to pray

During the Last Sunday Thing last Sunday a small group of people looked at the Lord's Prayer. They wrote simple sentences to say what it menat to them. During the short service at the end two of them read the version of the prayer which they had created.

Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name.
Holy Father we are your children and we worship and love you above all others.

Your Kingdom come.
We welcome your presence in our lives.

Your will be done on earth as in Heaven.
May we follow your example and try to reflect your will.

Give us today our daily bread.
Thank you for all that you give us and help us to share with others.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
We have done wrong, you forgave us, we must learn to forgive others.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Dear Father lead us away from doing wrong and show us the right way.

For the Kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.
Yesterday today and always, so be it.

Our third go

Ninety people came together in St Michael’s yesterday morning, and it was the first time some of them had been there on a Sunday morning. One regular from St Nicolas’ proved quite a hand at the Youth Group’s Wii; she even thought it might be worth her investing in one herself in the same way some Old People’s Homes have done as she regrets the sports in which she is no longer able to take part. A few others joined together in creating a sketch to illustrate the Bible story of the day: Jesus won the talent competition when it was discovered that he could throw himself off a high building and be caught by angels, but he spoilt it by refusing to become a celebrity by doing so and preferring to go off and get stuck into a ministry which would lead to his death.