Palm Sunday - Reflection by Canon Leslie

​Today is Palm Sunday, the day that marks the beginning of Holy Week. Today the events of Holy Week begin with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. Each of the three synoptic Gospels tells the story in a slightly different way, but the key idea remains the same. Drawing on imagery from the Old Testament, the Gospel writers make it plain that Jesus is entering Jerusalem as Messiah. Some people spread their cloaks on the road. Other people spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. As Jesus rode on the donkey people shouted the salutation from Psalm 118: 
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited you to reflect on the image of processional banners. Today’s picture of processional banners has been taken from the illustrated communion book, The Lord is Here!:
 
Lord Jesus Christ,
you rode into Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna.
Ride into our lives and accept our praise.
Hosanna to the Son of David,
Hosanna in the highest heaven;
Hosanna now and always.
Amen.
 
Next Sunday, Easter Sunday, focuses our attention on the resurrection of Jesus. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is spring flowers. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to [email protected].
 
To learn more about The Lord is here!, follow this link to the relevant page of the St. Mary’s Centre website: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/childrenandcommunion.html.
 
You are warmly invited to join us in worship online. We are livestreaming our 10:30am service on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. To stream the service on Facebook, follow this link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral. To stream the service on YouTube, follow this link to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/LiverpoolCathedral/videos. 
 
I send Palm Sunday greetings to all.
 
Canon Leslie