Greetings …

As we approach Palm Sunday and Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem, I have been thinking about how it is that I welcome Jesus, and how that welcome is an ongoing one.  I am not one who tends to waive palm branches, but I have cried out ‘Hosanna’ at times, as well shutting the door and walking away at others. 

As I was thinking I was struck by this poem, written by Malcolm Guite, who wrote while reflecting on those gates, walls and seats of judgements in our own lives, those things which might need to be challenged and cleansed. 

Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,
The seething holy city of my heart,
The Saviour comes. But will I welcome him?
Oh crowds of easy feelings make a start;
They raise their hands, get caught up in the singing,
And think the battle won. Too soon they’ll find
The challenge, the reversal he is bringing
Changes their tune. I know what lies behind
The surface flourish that so quickly fades;
Self-interest, and fearful guardedness,
The hardness of the heart, its barricades,
And at the core, the dreadful emptiness
Of a perverted temple. Jesus, come
Break my resistance and make me your home.

Part of Malcolm’s hopeful imagining is that “within us there is a ‘house at Bethany’, space for a more intimate encounter with Jesus, for healing, anointing and blessing.”

As we continue this Lenten journey, may we be up to the challenge and blessed by the intimate encounter with Jesus.

Blessings – Heather.