Sunday's coming!

  Introductory comments Now the green blade rises from the buried grain Wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain; Love lives again, that with the dead has been: Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green. I have struggled to find words of hope this Holy Week. We always have to make an emotional journey from the jubilant crowds of Palm Sunday, through the sorrow of the Last Supper, enduring the agony of Good Friday and the puzzled silence of Holy Saturday to reach today. But this year.. how hard it is to sing those Alleluias -  Praise to God! Praise God that we are still here, despite Covid – and yet what about those who are not..and what about the fear of another variant.. and what about those countries still without adequate vaccines? Praise God that voices are heard to speak out against the war in Ukraine – and yet the violence continues and the world’s leaders seem paralysed with fear…and can we really welcome refugees with open hearts? Praise God that we live on a

I saiah 43:16-21,   John 12:1-8    What a great family Mary, Martha & Lazarus are. It seems that their home in Bethany was Jesus’ home-from-home when he was not in Galilee. In today’s reading John tells us it was just 6 days before Passover, and Jesus chooses to be in Bethany, about 2 miles from the temple in Jerusalem, surrounded with this family he loved and who loved him. I think as a family they teach us so much of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.   We first meet Mary & Martha in the gospels when Martha is working hard to get a meal ready for Jesus while Mary sits at his feet. Martha is a practical disciple of Jesus, and Jesus has to remind her that listening to him is ‘the better part’ that Mary has chosen.  Martha only has a brief mention in today’s reading – but it’s a really important phrase “Martha served”. Martha reminds us that  service  is a vital part of discipleship. But in case you think Martha is just about serving – remember what happens when Jesus hear