Today's readings:

Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

For those of us steeped in Christian tradition, these are all very well known passages - the institution of the Passover, the Institution of the Lord's Supper, the mandate to wash feet, even the psalm gives us words often used in communion services.  The danger is because we know them so well, they are rendered impotent.

This morning at 7:30 my home phone rang - oh no, I thought, what tragedy has occurred?  None, it transpired, it was a friend calling to thank me for their Easter card and reasonably sure that at that time I'd be contactable...  This friend of mine is, I reckon, a sympathetic agnostic, certainly not a church-goer and not steeped in churchianity.  He has another friend who is a non-stipendiary vicar (and half time butcher!) who had evidently been telling him about his Maundy Thursday evening service of foot washing.  My friend was intrigued but bewildered, the whole raisson d'etre of the ritual was unknown to him.  So followed a short conversation about what it is meant to symbolise and why it is done, and even the Latin root of 'maundy' from mandatum.

It gave me pause, cut through some of my knee jerk cynicism about the tokenism of foot-washing as I have seen it in C of E and RC contexts - squeaky clean feet in spotless socks, proffered to receive a trickle of warm water and a pat with a fluffy towel - and to recall what it is all meant to show, the greatest being the least, the 'priest' becoming the 'servant'.

So, I wonder, for each of us busy preparing, leading or attending services today, who will interrupt our complacency, our familiarity, our cynicism, and draw us back to what it's all about?

Lord, in my busyness of making Easter for others

Bring into my consciousness once more what it is I am doing

And why

And turn my attention from creating to being re-created by you

Servant God, kneeling at my feet

Gently wiping away the dirt and dust of another year

Slow me down

If only for the time it takes to think these thoughts

Allowing you to cleanse and refresh me.

Maundy Thursday, Holy Thursday, Thursday of Holy Week, whatever you choose to label it, it sees the Easter activity step up a gear as the inescapable race to, and through, Calvary reaches its climax.

Yesterday I had a hair-cut - poor hairdresser, snipping off the curls and taming the waves, trying to fulfil his professional desires on a customer who really does not 'do' hairdressing, who just wants a quick trim and a low maintenance result!  This morning of course the hair reverts to its wavy state, the smooth lines are lost and normality returns... some things don't change.  The idea was to be smarter for Easter - oh well!

This morning I paused for a bacon buttie and a coffee in the place opposite church... a brief pause before the onslaught of wonderful and demanding activity that will fill the next few days.

So... lunchtime reflection number four, they have been brilliant, thank you A & W for your contributions, and to all who have attended - never less than twelve.  The Passover Seder - the church fridge is groaning with Mediterranean delights and ritual foods.

Tomorrow our 'Children's Vigil' to which we are anticipating around a dozen small people coming with their grown-ups and then, if energy holds up, off to a three hour vigil at one of our neighbouring churches.

Saturday - the emptiness of Holy Saturday will be quite real after the busy days before it, yet there will still be stuff to be done.

Sunday, has a running order of three services that goes something like this:

Bacon and communion

Beach BBQ and no communion

Soup and communion

Suffice to say Monday will be zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

I think I have to start with an apology - yesterday's post was rubbish - done in a rush and with a sense of getting something up rather than nothing.  The only saving grace is exactly that - the grace of God who will somehow bring some meaning to someone through the words I quoted.  So today, which is a no less crazy day (and I've already realised I left something at home I need... what a good job there are oodles of charity shops round the corner) I have decided to post earlier and then concentrate on some service prep - Sunday is not so far off and I have not one word prepared!

Today's readings:

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 70
Hebrews 12:1-3
John 13:21-32

All are short, and most are very familiar.

The Isaiah speaks of scourging, and we read that in the light of Jesus trial before Pilate, failing to notice that the Isaiah has a victim found innocent, whose accusers disappear... something that, for me, seems to hint more towards the parenthesised accounts of grace at the start of John 8.  Jesus was, so we believe, innocent, clearly his accusers believed otherwise, for these were not bad people, but religiously orthodox, 'sound' conservatives who heard and saw blasphemy and insurrection.  Declared innocent by God does not mean humans will concur.

Psalm 70 ought to disquiet us - it begins a prayer for enemies to be confused and defeated.  Yet it shifts mood very quickly, and ends with a prayer many of us can echo: "I am weak and poor; come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid!"

Hebrews gives us the Great Cloud of Witnesses and the call to fix our eyes upon Jesus, whilst John has Judas committing to a path of betrayal.

I wonder which, if any of these resonates for you today?  It's no secret I am one of those who want to rehabilitate Judas, recognising in myself to make such enormous and drastic choices, yet still hoping God might forgive and welcome me.  It's no secret that I squirm at some of the psalmists' writings that call for God to smite the enemy or avenger.  I think it is maybe the verse from Psalm that stand out for me today:

I am weak and poor; come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid!

Today, Lord, I am busy and preoccupied:

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, I am conscious of my potential to betray you:

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, I know I skip over scripture without really reading it

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, I wonder what others will make of what I say or write or do

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, there are people for whom I am anxious

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, there are people about whom I am anxious

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, there are people who will test my capacity for grace

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, there are people who will show grace to me

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, there seems so much to do, and I fear fouling up

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, I so want to get it right...

Come to me quickly, O God. You are my saviour and my LORD - hurry to my aid

Today, Lord, someone will read this searching for encouragement

Come to them quickly, O God. You are their saviour and their LORD - hurry to their aid

Today, Lord, someone will read this longing for hope

Come to them quickly, O God. You are their saviour and their LORD - hurry to their aid

Today, Lord, someone will read this in need of your peace

Come to them quickly, O God. You are their saviour and their LORD - hurry to their aid

Today, Lord, someone will read this who is angry

Come to them quickly, O God. You are their saviour and their LORD - hurry to their aid

Today, Lord, someone will read this who mourns

Come to them quickly, O God. You are their saviour and their LORD - hurry to their aid

Today, Lord, someone will read this who is crying

Come to them quickly, O God. You are their saviour and their LORD - hurry to their aid

Today, Lord, someone will read this who feels empty

Come to them quickly, O God. You are their saviour and their LORD - hurry to their aid

Today, Lord, we come to you as we are

Come to us quickly, O God. You are our saviour and our LORD - hurry to our aid

Better late than never!

Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 71:1-14
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
John 12:20-36

Psalm 71: 1 - 14

LORD, I have come to you for protection; never let me be defeated!
Because you are righteous, help me and rescue me. Listen to me and save me!
Be my secure shelter and a strong fortress to protect me; you are my refuge and defense.
My God, rescue me from wicked people, from the power of cruel and evil people.
Sovereign LORD, I put my hope in you; I have trusted in you since I was young.
I have relied on you all my life; you have protected me since the day I was born. I will always praise you.
My life has been an example to many, because you have been my strong defender.
All day long I praise you and proclaim your glory.
Do not reject me now that I am old; do not abandon me now that I am feeble.
My enemies want to kill me; they talk and plot against me.
They say, "God has abandoned him; let's go after him and catch him; there is no one to rescue him."
Don't stay so far away, O God; my God, hurry to my aid!
May those who attack me be defeated and destroyed. May those who try to hurt me be shamed and disgraced.
I will always put my hope in you; I will praise you more and more.

I've picked this passage as one that's less obvious than the others as a focus.  One that, when read in the context of Holy Week and what happened to Jesus carries a deep sense of irony, anticipating as it does the prayers of Gethsemane, yet with a very different aim...

This morning I met with my C of S colleagues who are using these lectionary readings for their Holy Week services and finding them frustrating - chunks omitted, timings all over the place.  Perhaps in a perverse kind of way that's not a bad metaphor for Holy Week - things are hectic and bewildering and out of order, Jesus turns our expectations upside down over and over again.  Today has been a little crazy, so please forgive the poverty of reflection, and instead of writing a prayer I've borrowed one.

Collect prayer for Tuesday of Holy Week:

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Today's Bible readings:

Isaiah 42:1-9
Psalm 36:5-11
Hebrews 9:11-15
John 12:1-11

It's interesting... if we were using the synoptics, today we would have an angry Jesus clearing the Temple of traders, but we are in John and actually have travelled backwards in time to before Palm Sunday with Jesus at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany.  Sometimes the lectionary can be annoying!

But what if I take the juxtaposition of Isaiah 42 with the Temple clearance and beyond?

The LORD says, "Here is my servant, whom I strengthen - the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased. I have filled him with my Spirit, and he will bring justice to every nation.

He will not shout or raise his voice or make loud speeches in the streets...

When they arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple and began to drive out all those who were buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who sold pigeons, and he would not let anyone carry anything through the Temple courtyards.

"He will not break off a bent reed nor put out a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all. He will not lose hope or courage; he will establish justice on the earth. Distant lands eagerly wait for his teaching."

"It is written in the Scriptures that God said, 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations.' But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!"

God created the heavens and stretched them out; he fashioned the earth and all that lives there; he gave life and breath to all its people. And now the LORD God says to his servant,  "I, the LORD, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples; through you I will bring light to the nations.  You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons. I alone am the LORD your God. No other god may share my glory; I will not let idols share my praise. The things I predicted have now come true. Now I will tell you of new things even before they begin to happen."

A teacher of the Law was there who heard the discussion. He saw that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer, so he came to him with a question: "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus replied, "The most important one is this: 'Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  The second most important commandment is this: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment more important than these two."   The teacher of the Law said to Jesus, "Well done, Teacher! It is true, as you say, that only the Lord is God and that there is no other god but he. And you must love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength; and you must love your neighbor as you love yourself. It is more important to obey these two commandments than to offer on the altar animals and other sacrifices to God."  Jesus noticed how wise his answer was, and so he told him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."

Isaiah 42:1 - 9 /Mark 11: 15-17; 12: 28-34 GNB

Oh what a mystery - meekness and majesty...

Oh what a mystery - gentleness and anger...

Oh what a mystery - inclusion and challenges...

Oh what a mystery...

Bow down and worship, for such is our God....