Vicar's Letter - 22nd March 2024

Kia Ora All Saints Family, 

It’s hard to believe that Holy Week and Easter are just around the corner. This week we are celebrating Palm Sunday, which whenever I think hard about or am challenged to preach on, I am struck with the odd-ness of the celebration of that day. On one hand, we are celebrating the entrance of our King Jesus into Jerusalem and honouring Him as the King that we know Him to be. Yet, the way we honour Him is so different than we would ever expect to honour an earthly King. That fact was not lost on Jesus’ followers who were there that day. In fact, that was probably most of the point of what happened. The people who were waving their palm branches knew Jesus was there to fight their battle, but they didn’t yet understand how. Jesus came into Jerusalem, not on a war horse, but on a donkey. He came to fight the battle, not with strength and power, but with sacrificial love.

This is the heart of our faith – that victory over sin and death comes with sacrificial love, with the pouring out of self for another. As we continue through our journey of exploring and seeking to emulate authentic community this year, our understanding of this must be at the core. What does it look like to pour out ourselves for the other, in order to reflect Jesus and God’s Kingdom to the world around us? 

I encourage you to consider this question as we go into worship on Sunday and then continue to journey together through Holy Week. What can we learn from Jesus and the way He walked through those last days? And how might those learnings help us to better reflect Jesus in our community of faith? 

See you Sunday, 
Summer