A prayer for the final day of February!

Be blessed!

Today - March 17th - is St Patrick's Day.

It's the day that Ireland and Irish people or those of Irish descent across the world celebrate - well, BEING Irish - and one of their most important patron saints. In 'normal times' much partying is done , much Guinness is drunk and shamrocks are worn, but importantly it's a day when many people go to church to remember St Patrick and give thanks for him, because it is, first and foremost, a spiritual/holy day.

Don't worry, I'm not going to start a whole essay about St Patrick. That would take far too long because it's a very complicated story, with many twists and turns, legends and stories of miracles.

Just some highlights.

Patrick wasn't Irish but was born in Roman Britain. When he was about 16 he was captured by Irish pirates and taken as a slave to the island of Ireland, where he mostly looked after animals for about six years. It's while he was looking after those sheep that it's believed he 'found God'. He escaped and managed to get home to his family where he studied Christianity and eventually became a priest. Later he returned to the place where he had been imprisoned to spread the Christian message to the Irish, who mostly practised a form of paganism ... the ancient Celtic religion.

And if you're wondering why the shamrock, or the three leaf clover, is a symbol of Ireland on this day in particular, it's because Patrick is said to have used the little plant with the three leaves to explain the Christian Holy Trinity - God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - to those he was hoping to convert.

Patrick didn't have it easy. Standing up to the local warlords, often apparently getting beaten up, sometimes being imprisoned and threatened with execution. But he continued his mission and although there is evidence of a Christian presence in Ireland before Patrick, he is generally considered as the founder of the faith there. He became a bishop and is known as the 'Apostle of Ireland',  and his feast day is marked on March 17th, the day it's thought he died.

But we can't be exactly sure. There's lots of mystery surrounding Patrick, even question marks over when he lived. It's generally believed that he was a missionary in Ireland during the fifth century, and by the seventh century, he had become revered as the patron saint of Ireland.

So today, to mark the day and to celebrate the man who was St Patrick and the legacy of faith he brought to Ireland, I leave you with one of my favourite Irish Blessings.

*Oh and if you're wondering, the 'road' in this picture is La Grande Route de St Ouen in Jersey.

Today is 'Palm Sunday', and if you're not familiar with the Christian faith and the church calendar, this fact may not have registered with you.

But it's an important day in the Christian calendar, because it marks the start of what we call 'Holy Week',  the few days running up to Good Friday and Easter ... next weekend.

Over the past five weeks or so Christians have been preparing for this holy season during 'Lent' - it's a time of reflection, prayer, fasting and contemplation ahead of the commemoration of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, at Easter.

Today is the final Sunday in the Lenten period, but why 'Palm' Sunday?

It's all about the last few days of the life of Jesus Christ. For three years Jesus had been travelling around the area which we now call 'The Holy Land' in the modern day country of Israel. As he went along Jesus preached a message of love and reconciliation, performing miracles by healing sick people, but also challenging the religious leaders of the day for their hypocrisy and distorting of the truths of the Jewish faith and the interpretation of ancient scripture to ensure their own power, status and even finances.

He gathered friends and followers around him and for a population oppressed under Roman rule, Jesus - a simple carpenter from the village of Nazareth - was being seen as a hope.

Some zealous nationalist Jews hoped he might lead a rebellion against the military rulers who controlled them, and the Jewish religious leaders who seemed to be in league with them. Others who had followed Jesus closely understood that his was not a message to arouse conflict, but one of love and peace. Jesus preached 'love your neighbour' and urged people to turn back to God. Many of his followers increasingly believed him to be more than a man but the Son of God. Some believed he was the 'Messiah', the Promised One who ancient scriptures predicted would come to free the People of Israel, to save them.

Whichever opinion people held, it meant that as Jesus went around the region he had become more and more popular. Wherever he went crowds would gather. People would hang on his every word. I like to think that Jesus had the sort of charisma that meant that when he was in the room, it was hard to look elsewhere or think of anyone else.

The New Testament of the Bible (in all of the four 'gospels' ... Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) tells us that people gathered in huge numbers to greet him. The crowds got bigger and bigger as he approached the city limits and entered through the gates, riding on a borrowed donkey, or small colt.

People went mad. They placed their cloaks on the ground as he rode down the street. Some think this indicates that he was being welcomed like a king  -  it was a sign of respect and honour as well as a greeting. Some reports say they stripped fronds from palm trees lining the route and waved them, cheering and shouting stuff like  ... 

Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!
Blessed the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in highest heaven!

The word 'Hosanna' is an interesting one. By shouting that word the crowds were not just saying 'welcome' but they were praising Jesus as they might God. It was about showing their happiness and joy but it was more than a word, it was an emotion, an expression of adoration.

And as the religious leaders - including the men who were part of a group known as the Pharisees - heard and saw the hero's welcome that Jesus was receiving, they must have been struck with fear. Maybe they saw their control over the people, which they maintained through the strict religious and cultural rules of the day, slipping away. Perhaps they were jealous. They were certainly angry.

Jesus was already on their radar, and they were suspicious of his popularity and worried about the reputation he had as a healer. They'd been watching him for some time. The idea that he was increasingly being seen by his followers as the 'Messiah' was worrying because it threatened their tricky relationship with the Roman authorities, which was mutually beneficial to all those in power on both sides.

And the claim that Jesus was the Son of God ... well that amounted to blasphemy. Hearing the cheers and the shouts of 'Hosanna' must have been another sign that the Pharisees were losing control.

They became convinced and determined to deal with Jesus, to put an end to his ministry, his popularity, his influence over ordinary people who he encouraged to have a 'one to one' relationship with God. The priests maintained their control over the lives and faith of the general population partly by being the 'conduit' between God and mankind. A people talking directly to God might not be so manageable.

Whether at this stage the religious leaders were plotting to have Jesus killed is another matter - but just days after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem that's what would happen, on the day we now call 'Good Friday'.

But I'm getting of myself. That's all to come.

Today, on Palm Sunday, Christians celebrate. We honour Jesus who we believe IS the Son of God and the Messiah who comes to save everyone, not just the Jews of his own time. 

Today small Palm Crosses are handed out and many Christians hang on to them all year, to remind us of Jesus' victory over death on Easter day. 

There I go ... jumping ahead in the story again. 

Back to the palm crosses. 

They are not just a reminder of this day, they are also a symbol of peace, and of triumph over adversity.

And as we mark 'Palm Sunday' we too may shout, if only quietly and in our hearts, 'Hosanna'... Blessed is He who comes in God’s name!

So yesterday was Palm Sunday ... the start of what in the church we call 'Holy Week'!

As I said yesterday, when Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, there were many in the crowd who welcomed him and who truly believed in him.

His followers, his 'disciples', had spent three years with him. They knew him well. They had heard him preaching and teaching, performing miracles. They were among those who had come to understand that Jesus was more than a man. They would have been among those who were coming to believe, or hope, that he was the 'Messiah', the Chosen One promised by God down many millennia, who would come to save the People of Israel.

There were those, too, who had been healed by Jesus, those who had seen those miracles, had heard him preach and had hung on his every word. They believed he was special. A 'Master', a 'Rabbi', a man who they could follow, with his message of peace and love and fairness.

And there were those who, perhaps, saw him a leader who would stand up to the Roman authorities who ruled the people with an iron fist, and who would also defy the religious leaders who also wanted to ensure a compliant population. As Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem, this group might have wondered why he was riding on a donkey and not a white charger like a hero should. But they may well have thought that this event heralded historic revelation and revolution. This group didn't really know much about the person who was Jesus, even if momentarily they wanted to believe in him. 

However, within a few days, a confusing, an astonishing few days, those crowds who cheered him on the road to Jerusalem would be screaming for Jesus' death. His friends and disciples would desert him, he would be mocked and tried and killed by those who feared his influence and the claims that he might be the Messiah, and the rumours that people thought he might be a king, or the Son of God.From Triumph to what some thought was Disaster, writer Cathy Le Feuvre thinks about the events of Holy Week !

And all in the space of a week.

Now, I'm no theologian. People much cleverer than I will, I'm sure, be able to explain the significance of Holy Week over the next few days.

But I wanted to start the week trying to give you an inkling of this important final week in the (earthly) life of Jesus because it appears that each moment ... from the day he took that donkey ride through the Jerusalem city gates to the moment he perished, nailed to a cross like a common criminal ... each day was full of significance.

And I found this brilliant photo ... this 'Holy Week Treasure Map' outlining the events of these days. It sort of tells the tale...

But if you fancy reading more about it - there's a brilliant book called the Bible .. the New Testament has the story!

Today is Wednesday ... but not just any old Wednesday.

Some call today 'Holy Wednesday', others know it as 'Spy Wednesday'.  

But why?

Well, as you may know by now, this is Holy Week - or Passion Week. It's the time  Christians remember the final days of Jesus Christ on earth. From the crowds cheering him into Jerusalem on what we call 'Palm Sunday', to his trial and hideous death on a cross outside the city, in the company of criminals. 

But in between there are significant moments. We remember that in the last week of Jesus' life, he turfed out traders from the holy temple, he preached and taught, he spent time with his followers and friends. He was arrested and tried in a kangaroo court.

And somewhere in the middle, he was betrayed by one of his friends and followers, a man called Judas Iscariot.

Judas was one of the original 12 friends and followers, the disciples of Jesus. Hand picked by Jesus to share his ministry and learn from him, and eventually be there to continue the work and the mission when Jesus was no longer around. Judas had been with Jesus for three years.

So why did he turn against him?

Remember a few days ago I was saying that among the people who followed Jesus were those who hoped that he would be not just a teacher and preacher or even a miracle worker, but that he would become a focal figure in a revolution against the Romans and the Jewish religious establishment? Well, it's thought that Judas might have been among those who hoped his 'Rabbi', his spiritual leader, would be more than just a healer and an itinerant preacher.

But as Judas lived and worked with Jesus, he maybe began to realise that this gentle, charismatic personality didn't want or seek political power. He wasn't about that. He was about love and compassion and bringing people to God. His message was about community, and people being kind and helping each other out. He was about caring for the sick and the poor and the isolated. Jesus was about loving the unloved. Not about power and status, or money and possessions.

This must have frustrated Judas no end. Seeing the crowds around Jesus, he must have had hopes that it would become more. He disagreed with Jesus' generosity, and as the one in the group that looked after the money he was the man who criticised Jesus when he allowed a woman called Mary to pour a bottle of expensive perfume over him. This 'anointing' was a sign of love, but also a symbolic gesture that seemed to foretell the sacrifice that Jesus would make in giving up his life. But all Judas could see was the waste of money.

It must have been common knowledge among the followers of Jesus that he was putting himself in danger by going to Jerusalem. Jesus had narked off the religious authorities, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, and they were looking for a way to arrest him. But the sacred Jewish festival of Passover was approaching and they wouldn't want to arrest him in public, especially as Jesus was so popular with ordinary people. They risked a riot.

So they decided to get him while he was pretty much undefended.

Jesus and his followers, as Jews, would be preparing to observe the Passover. The festival begins with a meal - the Seder  - which is a ritual observation on the eve of Passover. This particular meal taken by Jesus and his friend has become known as The Last Supper. Then Jesus and some of the disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane - on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem - where Jesus wanted to pray. He knew what was coming and he needed that time apart to prepare himself.

But Judas had already gone. He'd been with the religious leaders, accepted thirty pieces of silver as a payment for betraying Jesus. After midnight, Judas arrived in the Garden accompanied by armed officers and other men provided by the religious leaders. Judas, as a signal of which person to arrest, gave Jesus a kiss. Jesus is arrested, turned over to the Roman authorities, tired, and within days is killed - crucified.

And, realising the ill he had done, Judas hanged himself. Perhaps he didn't realise the priests wanted Jesus dead. Regretting his part in the arrest of Jesus, he tried to return the money but the religious leaders refused to take it. Judas threw the money into the temple and hanged himself.

So today on this 'Spy Wednesday' we remember Judas and his part in Jesus' story. But that word 'spy' is so interesting.

These days we think of spies as secret agents, and Judas was certainly no James Bond. Not a glamorous personality at all.

But the word 'spy' means more  - it can also mean 'plant', 'snooper', 'fifth columnist', someone who is in a group but whose motives are to undermine the group. That could describe Judas. A spy in the camp. And the word 'spy' can also mean 'ambush' and 'ensnare' which is certainly what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Down the centuries, theologians and philosophers have discussed Judas' part in the events that led to the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and Judas' motives. Greed? A love of money? A lust for power? Some sort of twisted theology? Some have even concluded that it was somehow in 'the Plan' - there are references in the Bible that Jesus knew one of his closest friends would betray him. That's hard to even think about. 

Judas has gone down in history as a pariah, an outcast, a devil.

But the question that always comes to my mind when I think about him is this ... am I so perfect?

Have I always been true to my faith, represented Jesus, been the person he might want me to be ... a person like him - loving, caring, compassionate, truth-seeking? Someone who thinks of others before themselves? And have I always stood up for my faith? Always stood up for Jesus? Have I never denied him, even by my silence when I needed to speak up? 

It's a hard one to face but on this 'Spy Wednesday', halfway through Holy Week, halfway to the crucifixion of Jesus and ahead of Easter ... it's a question I need to keep asking myself.

On Good Friday, as Christians we are remembering how Jesus Christ was crucified on a hill outside of the city of Jerusalem.

It's perhaps the holiest day of the year for Christians, and some people might think that it's strange to call a solemn holy day that commemorates a death a 'good day'.

Lots of deep theological and historical and cultural reasons for that, but for me the 'good' is there because actually it comes a few days before the main revelation of Christianity. Which is  ... that Jesus didn't stay dead!

Yes he died, but then he pushed through death, proving that it didn't have to be the end of existence.

By coming back to life he 'conquered' death which means that if we believe in Jesus we also ultimately can push back death. Dying doesn't have to be the end of it all for us. We can be God's person here on earth,  but we may also live eternally in the spirit world after we have shrugged off this mortal coil

It's an astonishing thing! Difficult to comprehend, supernatural, but when embraced, an outrageous concept of optimism and hope.

Christians believe that although Jesus lived as a man for about 33 years, including 30 as a member of a family, a working man, followed by three years as an itinerant preacher, teacher and miracle worker and healer in the place we now know as The Holy Land (modern day Israel) ... he actually was more than a man. He was the Son of God, or God himself in human form.

We Christians do believe that Jesus was the best example of a human being that ever existed and we are encouraged to emulate his compassion, love and life of service. We also believe that his death (and ultimate resurrection on the day we call 'Easter Sunday') not only shows his divinity, but also paves the way for us to embrace eternal life ... if we would only believe in Jesus and follow him.

If you've been reading my blog a bit this week you might have picked up that by the time he reached Jerusalem in the final days of his life - the time we call 'Holy Week' in the church - the religious leaders of the day were determined to get rid of Jesus.

There were rumours that people believed that Jesus - the poor itinerant preacher - was actually the Messiah. This was the person that ancient scripture said would be sent by God to save the people of Israel. Not to mention those claims that Jesus could actually be God in human form, or the Son of God. For the Jewish religious leaders this was blasphemy and Jesus' popularity threatened their control over the population.

Ultimately they wanted rid of him. And by the day we call 'Good Friday' they had had him tried before the local and the Roman authorities and he found himself being beaten, a crown of thorns rammed onto his head (an ironic reference to the fact that some saw him as a 'King') and he had to carry his own cross through the streets of Jerusalem, through the crowds, being mocked and taunted and laughed at!

The story of Jesus' final hours and his death on that cross at a place called Calvary outside the Jerusalem city walls is documented in the New Testament of the Bible, including in the book of Matthew and Chapters 26 and 27 ,  if you have time to do so, please do read that account today.

It was a horrible death, bloody and brutal, designed not just to punish the person being nailed to a cross of wood and left to hang until they died, but also to warn those watching that THIS is what was in store for them if they, too, dared to defy authority.

There are many songs associated with this day, some very traditional. But this one and this particular version by the Gaither Vocal Band, always stirs my heart as on Good Friday I once again think about what Jesus did two thousand years ago, and what he's still doing for me today.

No pictures on this video. Maybe just close your eyes and listen to the words.

And be blessed!

*this song now on my You Tube channel 

This day is a strange day.

Between the despair of Good Friday and the exhilaration of Easter Sunday - between the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - comes 'Holy' Saturday.

It's a day when the original disciples of Jesus, his friends and followers, will have been in despair. Their friend was dead. He had died in the most horrific way and although a couple of them were with him, most had deserted him and even denied knowing him! How awful they must have felt! They would have been ashamed, gutted and afraid.

But after experiencing the Worst Day of their lives, little did they know that on the horizon was the Best Day ever!

It's something I'm sure we can all sympathise with. Many of us will have been through hardships and trials and had days when it feels like the end of the world, or at least our world as we know it.

But today ... let's be encouraged ... whatever is happening in our lives ...

The Best is Yet to Come!

Happy Easter!

What a fantastic day today is!

If you're a Christian, like me, it's the Best Day of the Year. 

Why?

It's because today we celebrate something AMAZING!

Something supernatural and surreal, astonishing and astounding  ... as Christians we believe that today Jesus, who was killed two thousands years ago in Jerusalem, came back from the dead. He was 'resurrected'.

If you've been reading my blog these past few days, or if you're into theology, you'll know that this is central to the Christian faith. That we believe in a God who is alive. Jesus proved his divinity by living as a man, dying and then ... well being raised from the dead! Defying death!

And all this to give us all hope that if we believe in him, we may also live eternally, eventually, when we're done living life on earth!

Today we celebrate the life of Jesus and his resurrection - and what better way than to share a great hymn?

It is actually my favourite Easter hymn. Years ago I featured on the TV religious programme BBC Songs of Praise  (recorded in Jersey) and THIS was the song I chose.

It tells the story of Easter so well and it's so optimistic, so positive. It always fills me with joy! 

I hope it does the same for you today!

Happy Easter!

Today is the start of the Easter season ... yes I know we think Easter was yesterday - and it was. Easter Sunday, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But actually, it's the start of a Christian season - sometimes also called 'Eastertide' - which runs now for 50 days right through to Pentecost Sunday!

Easter coincides with a beautiful time of year. Spring is a time of such hope, optimism and new life, isn't it?

It makes me want to smile and laugh out loud.

Last year we got a bunch of flowers for Easter, and this little chap was in the arrangement!

Hope it makes you smile too!

Have a great day!

Over the years I've experienced many changes in my life. 

Some good, some not so great.

But there's a verse from the Bible which has walked with me and which never fails to give me strength and fill me with optimism.

Whatever valley I walk through, whatever uncertainty I'm feeling inside and whatever hurdles I face,  this verse from scripture not only comforts but challenges me.

God knows what He's doing, even if I have not a clue. There is hope, even if I can't feel or see it right now.

So today I share this verse, and hope if YOU need a word of encouragement or are going through difficult times, this will help you too, and give you the hope you need to get through today!

Have a great day everyone!