Strange day,

Celebrating crowds,

Laying cloaks, waving palms,

Bands, donkey parades, adulations cried out,

a spectacle….

The gospel tells us the disciples cried out praises for all that they had seen…

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Silence them, quiet them,

the fear-filled Pharisees demand,

this will upset Rome, the powers that govern must not be disturbed…

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But if these were silent the stones would cry out,

and stones have a deeper memory than crowds!

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Strange day,

the cross is looming,

the week will grow darker…

Do I have any hosannas in me?

A cloak to lay, a palm to wave?

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No, this year I am left behind,

watching from afar,

From afar as he ascends into Jerusalem,

descends into darkness.

He will not be stopped.

though the cross, betrayal and pain unimaginable await

he presses on,

he presses through…

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Despite the darkness joy awaits,

resurrection will happen again, and again, and again

as we live into his-story…

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This year I am watching from afar,

but the ancient story lives, and embraces even me,

as Lazarus like, I wait.

wait for his voice to call me out…