Palm Sunday 5th April 2020

The West Norfolk Priory Group

Palm Sunday

5^th April 2020

Collect

True and humble king,

hailed by the crowd Messiah:

grant us the faith to know you and love you, that we may be found beside you

on the way to the cross,

which is the path to glory. Amen.

Our readings

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, “The Lord needs them.” And he will send them immediately.’ This took place to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
‘Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
   humble, and mounted on a donkey,
     and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David!
   Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’      Matthew 21. 1-11

Psalm 118

A Song of Victory

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever!

Let Israel say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
   that I may enter through them
   and give thanks to the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord;
   the righteous shall enter through it.

I thank you that you have answered me
   and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
   O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
   We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
   and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
   up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
   you are my God, I will extol you.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.

Psalm 118 1-2, 19-29

Please include in your prayers: Those in our prayer basket, those who are ill or housebound: Rebecca, Tony Marie, Philippa Jamieson, Mick Collins, Dilys Garland, David Colby, Margaret and Kevin Gardner, Samantha Clark, Lynne Watton, Frederick Ali, Josie, Shaun Caley, Roger, Philip, Carole, , Debra, Christine, Tony Porter, Kath, Sam, Ken Martin, Wendy

A prayer about Coronavirus                                Father God, as people and nations of the world, help us to realise our dependence upon one another.                                                                                                          We pray for healing among the sick, wisdom among our leaders, protection and effectiveness for health workers, and responsible behaviour by each of us as individuals.                                                                                                 Most of all, Lord, we pray that you dispel our fears, for you ‘did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline’ (2 Tim 1:7).                      For Jesus’s sake. Amen

A prayer in lockdown (via Derek Brown)

The doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked. (John 20.19)

Ever present God, be with us in our isolation, be close to us in our distancing, be healing in our sickness, be joy in our sadness, be light in our darkness, be wisdom in our confusion, be all that is familiar when all is unfamiliar, that when the doors reopen we may with the zeal of Pentecost inhabit our communities and speak of your goodness to an emerging world.
For Jesus' sake. Amen.

While our Churches are closed

* Some churches in the Diocese have an online service St. Marys in Ely has a service which would be suitable for both adults and children https://www.stmarysely.org/online-services.html

Why not try it or share with families

*Canon Jessica Martin has a daily reflection on the cathedral web-site https://www.elycathedral.org/worship-at-home/daily-reflections

A transcript of the reflection on April 2nd

Alone Together - A Daily Reflection by Canon Jessica Martin - 2 April 2020

‘I’ve talked a lot about prayer. Not just because prayer is a source and spring of the Christian life – though it is – but because prayer joins us when we are physically parted.

‘Christian community is – usually - so strongly built on bodily closeness. In ordinary times we gather together, we share the peace by taking each other’s hands, we receive the sacrament together, breaking bread, sharing a common cup. We rely, too, on the strong symbolic and gathering power of the church building in our civic landscapes, an open space for anyone and everyone.

‘Without those physical encounters, without those holy spaces, prayer becomes our main loadbearing connection. And – like every kind of deprivation – this bodily abstinence reveals blessings not visible before. The holiness of domestic spaces. The importance of keeping ‘in touch’ when we cannot touch. The warmth and timbre of the human voice.

‘But it has made me ask myself with more urgency what prayer is. What am I doing when I pray? Because – just occasionally – you can hear people talking about prayer as if it might be a kind of strategy.

‘And I don’t think it is. Jesus prayed constantly, but he did not expect prayer automatically to spare him pain, or sorrow, or even death itself. In this week of all weeks, as we approach the Passion of Jesus, in which he turned faithfully towards agony, we can’t see prayer as a disaster-averting piece of automatic magic.

‘So why pray? What would it achieve for us to pray, alone together?

‘Perhaps – in ‘achievement’ terms – nothing. But to pray is to turn towards God. That’s all (and everything). Towards the source of all life and health and peace. Towards the heart of all love. To be filled with love may bring joy, but does not guarantee happiness; to embrace God’s life is to turn towards a kind of death; to behave as a creature is to remember what we cannot, in our own little strength, do or be.

‘But prayer gives its own gifts. In bringing us close to our God, we are lent a strength not our own; a love we cannot feel by ourselves; a peace which can’t be shredded by fear. Prayer holds before God people and situations beyond us in every way, so that even in parting we can commend our loves into the very heart of all love, and know them held, and never abandoned.’

And Finally – we can still laugh – from Yorkshire born Canon Derek Brown

Apparently, God has been seen walking in Yorkshire.  ‘What are you doing here?’ someone asked. 

‘Working from home.’ …….