‘Creative’ Palm Sunday – Meditative Walk

Creative Sunday 28th March

Palm Sunday – Meditative Walk

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the time when we join the celebration of Christ riding in to Jerusalem on a donkey, as a servant. The crowds are singing and dancing, children are joyfully celebrating and the stones would be crying out in praise if there was a lull in proceedings. No spoilers….the rest of the week went downhill after that, in the words of the poem, “If that’s a good Friday, I wouldn’t want a bad one.” But then there was Sunday….

This is the Sunday when we would be waving various branches and greenery; when a table would be set in anticipation, hopefully Spring would have sprung and we would have walked to church aware of the glories and colours of nature after the bleak mid-winter. We may have gathered on bikes and tried our own palm celebration with a few bells, whistles and vines. Then we would be together in one space trying to stir up a sense of occasion with the full range of exuberance and wry reserve.

But this Palm Sunday we are in a very different place. We are emerging from the bleak winter lockdown and are on the marker of a very peculiar road map. This Sunday is the day before national easing, when we will have the chance to meet with more than one person outside, when we can gather in six and when we see over the hill the chance of openings, and a shift in restrictions. But for today, it is walking in a household, alone or with one other person.

So how shall we mark this morning? Here are a few things that we can do celebrate, reflect, pray and long for more of Christ in our lives.

1. Walk into the city. Get the bus out to Devil’s Dyke, Ditchling Beacon or up to the Race Track. Look over the city of Brighton and Hove and reflect on Christ’s approach to Jerusalem. As you walk in to the city, pray for the areas you pass, the schools, hospital, health centres, streets, cemetery, chemists ….. the list goes on. Pray for all who see to serve their community. Pray for peace in our community and blessing for all who would seek its favour.

2. Walk around an area – there are some great loops and routes to choose. Here are 20 ranging from a gentle stroll to a more serious trek. https://www.komoot.com/guide/16067/hiking-around-brighton-and-hove

3. Pause, ponder and pray. Be intentional about finding places to pause. Look around and stop when your interest is arrested. Be on the lookout for a splash of awe and wonder! There will be times when you are in nature.

Remember “Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;”

Take a poem with you – here’s one we love – https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44395/gods-grandeur

Remember – the beauty of the Lord is not only in the panoramic landscape but in the small, precise and overlooked:
“I do not think that I have ever seen anything more beautiful than the bluebell I have been looking at. I know the beauty of the Lord by it. Its inscape is mixed of strength and grace, like an ash tree.”

See Christ in all and everywhere.

Listen out for others praising and singing God’s praise! The birds are a blaze! When you hear one, listen,
marvel and celebrate. https://allpoetry.com/A-Blackbird-Singing

4. Take a passage to walk and recite
Maybe it’s a poem, maybe it’s a psalm, maybe a story or parable. Find it, take it, walk it through… see where it leads you.

5. Take a character and walk with in your imagination.

So who would go on this journey with you? Why not someone from one of the journey stories. The disciples on the road to Emmaus, the child watching Christ as he came in to Jerusalem, the owner of the donkey – what ever happened to him – maybe the donkey! Use your imagination to walk and talk through that story.

6. Make it a pilgrimage!
A pilgrimage is simply a journey that has religious or spiritual significance, usually to a significant place. You could walk to the Chatri and use the time to pray for peace in all its forms. You could choose a specific place locally to walk with a spiritual intention. You could, once the restrictions ease, walk the Cuckmere Pilgrim Path or take a section of the walk – http://cuckmerepilgrimpath.org.uk/

7. For the children or those blessed with holding on to the child in their heart………..
Why not make a palm cross https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znDyR8_POCU or a Brigid’s cross https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn_MG4HZVOo Here’s a nice version of the story….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTmbTuutBgg&t=4s

Hope you enjoy the day and find a way to celebrate Christ coming again and again into our hearts, lives and communities.

Please send through any thoughts, photos or verses to the office at office@nullcitygatechurch.org.uk or post on our City Gate Church Facebook Page.