Palm Sunday and I had two services to take - Center Parcs, congregation of 7, Dibley BC congregation of 25. Two very different places but the same sermon each time.
I do not how it is some people get 50 adults and 20 odd children when they lead worship at Center Parcs whilst I get a handful of adults, but I do know I like leading worship for people who are there because they REALLY want to be there. Only one person knew any of the songs I'd picked and we abandoned one without even trying it, as me playing the piano and singing solo is just toooooooo awful to contemplate. Interestingly, this time everyone came alone, their families all being busy doing other things, and one man had to leave early to go to a laser-war game (discuss...!). They sat with the duty four chairs gap between them and no one ventured onto the front row. They were an interesting mix - a Gideon from Staffordshire, an Anglican from Runcorn, two RCs - one from West Midlands and the the other the Philipines, and the rest unspecified from, among others, Weston Super Mare.
The first person to arrive was a woman in her 60's, who was obviously a bit wobbly. She told me that she was on holiday with her children, that her husband had recently died and that she could not believe it was Palm Sunday. Eeyore was her way in to the service. When I pulled him out (6p plus P&P from Ebay for a BIG Eeyore!) we shared his characteristics - though rather than 'gloomy' I said he was 'sad,' that life was not easy for Eeyore. As the service progessed, I noticed her gaze keep returning to him - yes this sad, lonely little donkey was valued by Jesus, and so was she. She didn't have to be happy if she wasn't, it was OK. Other people perhaps related to Shrek's Donkey (another Ebay bargain), or some other part of the sermon, but I was glad I'd taken Eeyore with me; he was there when he was needed.
Back home and it was a fairly typical Sunday turnout, though we saw the return, after illnesses, of a couple we hadn't seen for about 3 months (we'd been to see them, they just hadn't been to church) and quite a few regulars were away. For various reasons, I'd wound up having to set out comunion, send someone to get bread, get the micorpohones to work, operate PowerPoint and preach. Somehow I had got some of my slides out of sink with the order of service, and then lost part of a Psalm - it wasn't a great start! Even so, the service went well and I think most people heard a message of encouragement - that whether 'donkeys, disicples or ordinary people' they were an important part of the story. People enjoyed the donkeys, they recongisned Donkey and Eeyore and seemed quite ready to tell me their characteristics.
I guess this was not the most deep and meaningful Palm Sunday sermon preached this year, and Jim Gordon gives a far more profound reflection on the donkey here, but it did seem to me that being able to recongnise that Jesus chose a donkey - loud, talkative, stubborn, gloomy, unhappy, untried... - allowed people in various life experiences to feel included in Palm Sunday today.