Seeker

Between parades We're good at planning! Give us a task force and a project and we're off and running! No trouble at all! Going to the village and finding the colt, even negotiating with the owners is right down our alley. And how we love a parade! In a frenzy of celebration we gladly focus on Jesus and generously throw our coats and palms in his path. And we can shout praise loudly enough to make the Pharisees complain. It's all so good! It's in between parades that we don't do so well. From Sunday to Sunday we forget our Hosannas. Between parades the stones will have to shout because we don't. Ann Weems, Kneeling in Jerusalem (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994) p. 69 Image Credit: Palm Sunday, a painting by African artist Evans Yegon

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin May, celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans and some other churches on 25 March each year. In England this used to be New Year's Day until 1752. It is also called 'Lady Day'. It is an approximate pregnancy length of time from the next Christmas, when Christians celebrate Jesus' birth. Today is about the Angel Gabriel’s astonishing announcement to Mary that she was to bear a son, to be called Jesus, who would be 'great'. You can read the account in Luke 1: 26 – 38. Today's feast gives me an excuse to share a memory of a visit my husband and I made 3 years ago to the Marienkapelle, a church in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany . We were with a small group being shown around the church by a knowledgeable and entertaining local guide. Towards the end of the tour he asked us, 'how did the Virgin Mary get pregnant?' Somebody said 'by a miracle', another said, 'by the Holy Spirit...

This Lent I am occasionally posting on the theme of kindness. Today is St Cuthbert's Day and I found myself thinking about the kindness of Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne. He died on this day in 687 A.D. Here is his statue near to Holy Island, Northumberland, England. Cuthbert is one of the most popular English/Scottish saints. Cuthbert was born around 640 in the Scottish lowlands (then part of the Northumbrian Kingdom). As a child he had a vision and decided to dedicate his life to God. He became a monk at Melrose Abbey. From there he began missionary work, which he continued from Lindisfarne where he became abbot. He became a bishop in 685 and continued travelling and preaching, walking all over the rough hills of his diocese, spending time as a hermit on Farne Island in between. On 20 March 687 he died and his body was eventually laid to rest in Durham. There are many stories about him. Here’s one that illustrates his kindly nature and his care to teach others to share what you...

  Mothering Sunday is on the 4th Sunday of Lent, which this year is today. It was was once a day to return to the 'mother church' of your area or to honour Mary, mother of Jesus. On this day Lent fasting rules were relaxed. It was therefore sometimes known as 'refreshment' Sunday. At one time children employed as domestic servants or apprentices were given the day off to visit their mothers and perhaps take a cake or posy of flowers. Some people call today 'Mother's Day'. I'm not keen on that as the name 'Mothering Sunday' is a more inclusive way of looking at it. Not everyone is or can be a mother but we can all try to do what the best mother's do in the sense of providing a safe space for others to grow and flourish. And we all need to receive welcome, nurture and refreshment from others. I think that is part of what the church should be about - reflecting the perfect 'mothering' of God for all her children. (In saying that I am not...