Easter

Do you like Palms?

In our garden we have three different varieties, not everyone cares for them I know but the sheer grandeur of them whether tall or short just takes my breath away and they are green all through the year and don’t drop their leaves, that’s a bonus.

Today is the last Sunday before Easter, known as Palm Sunday when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey and people laid palms on the road before Him and waved them in the air shouting Hosanna (meaning save us)

Why palm branches? In biblical times they held much importance particularly the date Palm which was majestic and grows up to 50 feet high, then, they symbolized goodness, joy and grandeur also steadfastness and victory.

In the Old Testament we read that King Solomon used them in the building of the temple they were carved into both the inner and outer walls and they were also used on the coinage of the day.

The Date palm has much to offer not only does the trunk provide timber, the midrib of the leaves are used to make furniture, leaflets are used to make baskets, the leaf is used for fuel, fruit stalks make ropes, the seeds are fed to animals and the fruits give syrup, alcohol, vinegar, wine and honey. It is said that the fruit will sustain life for a long time without any other kind of food. It has much to offer.

God compares the righteous to a palm tree in Psalm 92:12, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,”

Just like the date palm God’s victory has much to offer in the way that He cares for our every need and our Salvation.

It is freely ours if we live by faith. On Palm Sunday, palm branches remind us of His victory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoz5wpycqvw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Ou-n490Gs

Maundy Thursday

Supper was special that night.

There was both a heaviness and a holiness hanging in the air.

We couldn’t explain the mood it was sacred, yet sorrowful.

Gathered around that table eating that solemn, holy meal seemed to us the most important meal we had ever sat down to eat.

We were dwelling in the heart of MYSTERY. Though dark the night, Hope felt right—as if something evil was about to be conquered.

And then suddenly the One-Who-Loved startled us all. He got up from the table and put on an apron.

Can you imagine how we felt?

GOD IN AN APRON!

Tenderness encircled us as He bowed before us. He knelt and said, “I choose to wash your feet because

I love you.”

God in an apron, kneeling. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was embarrassed until His eyes met mine.

I sensed my value then.

He touched my feet. He held them in His strong, brown hands. He washed them. I can still feel the water.

I can still feel the touch of His hands. I can still see the look in His eyes.

Then He handed me the towel and said, “As I have done, so you must do.” Learn to bow. Learn to kneel. Let your tenderness encircle everyone you meet. Wash their feet – not because you have to – but because you want to.

It seems I’ve stood two thousand years holding that towel in my hands. “As I have done, so must you do,” keeps echoing in my heart.

“There are so many feet to wash,” I keep saying.

“No.”

I hear God’s voice resounding through the years.

“There are only my feet.

What you do for them, you do for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z62hC-8OJZs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oCNwIA6xLc

Good Friday

He Created the Tree, He moulded and built, a small lonely hill that He knew would be Called Calvary.

Then He made the seed, that would grow to be thorns that would make

His Son bleed.

Then He made a green stem, gave it leaves and then gave it sunshine and rain and sheltered it with moss.

With tears in His eyes, God looked down in time

Saw Him spat upon, beaten and mocked.

Still, He grew the tree that He knew would be used to make the old rugged cross.

Nothing took His life, with love He gave it.

He was crucified, on the tree that He created.

With great love for man God stayed with His plan

He grew the tree,

That He knew would be

Used to make

The old rugged cross.

God did much to win your heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j3NZEdHQaI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnqb7Vn4AEE

Easter Sunday

We were weighed down, walking to the tomb. We knew the way, we had walked it two days before.

We had followed Joseph of Arimathea and his servant, down the hill from Golgotha, their arms straining with the dead weight of Jesus’ body.

We saw where they laid him, how they wrapped him in linen. We saw their shoulders pushing that stone in place, the sound of it grinding shut and though our eyes streamed tears, we marked the place, we knew we would come back.

On the first day of the week, we came, arms full of aromatic oil and spices; all our resources pooled in a fragrant offering, one last service for Jesus.

What we saw in the semi-darkness was not the closed tomb we had expected, but a gaping hole!

Alarmed, we looked inside, seeing that Jesus’ body was gone. Someone had been there before us.

How could this be? Grave robbers? Some final act of blasphemy against our Saviour?

Had Pilate changed his mind, and was Jesus’ corpse now hanging somewhere for all to see?

I dropped all I was carrying and ran to find the disciples. Peter and John came racing back, entering the tomb: Jesus was not there.

I stood with them, our hands on the giant stone, confusion written on our faces.

They left, but I remained, gathering up all those spices, my tears dropping on the ground, would this suffering never end?

I turned and looked again in the tomb, but this time, there was not darkness, but light! Two angels sitting where Jesus’ body should be; and they asked me why I was weeping!

Why was I weeping?

And then another man, the gardener, suddenly there behind me, also asking about my tears.

All I wanted was Jesus’ body, so I could do what I came here for, mourn properly, anoint him with these spices in my arms.

“Where is Jesus, tell me if you know!” I cried. And then he said my name, and suddenly I recognized him.

Jesus! Not dead, not cold, not lifeless, not gone forever! Jesus, alive, before me, talking, looking in my eyes!

My heart about stopped as I reached out to hold him, to see if he was real, touchable, Jesus in the flesh.

He talked of My God and Your God, and suddenly it was real to me.

It was not God far away,

not God not listening,

but God present,

God doing impossible things,

God making morning miracles out of death’s darkness.

Jesus asked me to go and tell the others.

I threw the spices on the ground, (no need of them now!) And I started running, my feet moving faster than they’ve ever moved.

I have seen the Lord!

BY Carol Pennar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGNCIL4uIqY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUq4QDrtEjY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fympk3q46dg