A Reflection for the 5th Sunday of Lent by Fr. Gareth Ingham.
This week I have enjoyed visiting three local schools, talking to the children about the seasons of the Church.
Firstly, we identified the four seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, recognising that each have a distinctive character based on the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. We then talked about the seasons of the Church and how these follow not the Sun, but the Son of God and the distinctive story of Jesus Christ.
On Sunday the story of Jesus continues, and we enter the season of Passiontide.
Our main reading on Sunday will be taken from the Gospel according to St. John and contains these words of Jesus, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified’.
Up to this point in the story, Jesus has spoken about His hour as something which is in the future and yet to arrive. But here we are at the fifth Sunday of Lent, the hour has come, and the passion of Jesus Christ begins.
At the School assemblies we talked through the Churches devotional journey of Holy Week. How people at the time didn’t fully understand who Jesus was. During his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowds hailed him as a King. Later, on the Thursday evening, he showed them exactly what sort of King he was by washing the disciple’s stinky feet. The children seemed to resonate with the reality of a Servant King!
We talked through the betrayal, the sharing of the bread and wine, and Jesus praying in the garden. Then his arrest, trial, and crucifixion, before we finally arrived at Holy Saturday. I asked the children, ‘What does the Church do on Holy Saturday?’
A small voice answered from the front, ‘Nothing, because Jesus is dead in the tomb.’
If I’m honest, I was thinking more about how we decorate our sanctuaries with beautiful flowers, preparing for the Easter celebrations. These quiet words caught me a little by surprise.
A reminder that this is the season of Passiontide and there is a winter chill before the Gardener appears.
Fr. Gareth Ingham
Priest in Charge – The Benefice of CRIFTINS with DUDLESTON and WELSH FRANKTON
and The Benefice of PETTON with COCKSHUTT, WELSHAMPTON, and LYNEAL with COLEMERE.
Feature Image: Christ_Washing_the_Disciples’_Feet_E10791, Wikicommons, PD.