NOTES: 1]  To go as far as v.13 encompasses the cleansing of the Temple, a key event of the story. 2] See MK 11:1-11, LK 19:28-40, & JN 12:12-19 (cf. JN 2:13-22). Also, ZECH 9:9-10 (where it's clear only one animal is involved) & PS 118 (esp.vv.19+) 3] This is a very political act, with Jesus acting out the politics of God.

WARMING UP: Do we enjoy riding any animal, or maybe we used to?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened this week?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:
1-5        If, as the story seems to demand, Jesus is setting in motion a plan pre-arranged with the donkey's owner, what might be his purpose? Does Jesus' deliberate fulfillment of the prophecies of ZECH & PS 118 tell us anything about what true prophecy really is?

6-9       What is there about this event that makes it such a popular feature of the church's calendar - maybe even more popular than Easter itself these days? If we turn Palm Sunday into 'kids' stuff', are we in danger of missing out on, if not avoiding the powerful playing out of the politics of God taking place?
             Whatever the level of the disciples' understanding of what's happening, does the crowd's latching onto what's going on just indicate what someone(?) once called, 'a display of harmless hope in a hopeless life'? Is that what church is for some folk? Does it matter if that's the case? If it is the colour, movement, excitement, sense of direction of Palm Sunday that grabs people's attention, could we do more about that in our Sunday by Sunday worship? How do we move on from being 'spectators' at this or other examples of what Jesus is on about, to becoming active participants? How can we encourage others to move on with us? Is recognizing Jesus as the 'One who comes in the name of the Lord', the beginning, a stage along the way, or the end of our faith journey with him?

10-13   What impact, if any, does Jesus have on our community today? Is he just someone who's always riding by on the outskirts somewhere, or does he ever penetrate the heart of our community? Would he only cause trouble if he did? Do we sense many people in our community even getting as far as accepting Jesus as 'the prophet from Nazareth' today? Are we ever frustrated at the lack of recognition of who Jesus is & how important that is for us all? If in riding into the city as God's Messiah & attacking what's going on in the Temple means Jesus is challenging us to choose carefully the quality of the religion we want, are we with him or against him? Or did our trip with him stop outside the city walls, & we just ambled off home?
             Is there a point at which unrest, or complaint about church practices needs to turn into challenging it / them as Jesus does? How would we know when we reached such a point? Do we like Palm Sunday so much because we can all play-act journeying with the Messiah at no risk to ourselves other than maybe being spiked with a palm frond?
            How do we respond to these words by Graham Maule (Wild Goose Songs 1, from Wild Goose Publications...a web- site worth visiting) that seem to lead us on from Palm Sunday: Praise the Son who feeds the hungry, frees the captive, finds the lost, heals the sick, upsets religion, fearless both of fate & cost....?
 
 

NOTES: 1] The story of Cornelius (a 'God-fearer', i.e. not a convert to Judaism, but a sympathiser) raises an issue the young church has to wrestle with: can Gentiles (non-Jews) belong, at least without converting to Judaism first? 2] In v.10, the word 'trance' is actually the one from which our 'ecstasy' comes.

WARMING UP: How much has food become a means of crossing over from one culture to another?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened this week?

EXPLORING ACTS:

1- 8       What kinds of challenges does our multi-cultural society pose to our religion, or doesn't it challenge us at all? How do we feel when someone outside the formal ranks of the (any) church seems closer to God than we think of ourselves as being? Do we feel comfortable in their company, threatened by them, envy them, try to learn from them, ..........? What if this person were a member of a hated occupying force, as Cornelius is here? Do we still tend to think of our prayers / good deeds 'ascending' up there somewhere, in flat earth language? Where do they really go? Though God points Cornelius in Peter's direction (to whom else would one point a new convert at this stage?) how do we feel in general about those who take / seek / are given a high profile? What about those who even go off & start their own movements & churches?

9-16      Do we have some place (like Peter's rooftop) or once did where we go / went to pray? Or have our church buildings taken over that role? If so, might that mean that sometimes our praying becomes restricted to that building & that hour, too?
Do dreams, nightmares, visions, ecstatic 'trances' etc. play any part in either our religious life or our self-understanding? These days might we say that some of them may be brought on by sun, sleepiness, worry, conscious, or wine? What about those experiences that can't be explained in any rational way? How do we test the genuineness of such experiences, our own or someone else's? Is it thinkable that God stopped communicating that way when we stopped taking a flat earth view of things? Do we ever find ourselves arguing with, saying "No", to God in whichever way he chooses to communicate with us? Does God ever need to show us whatever it is he wants to show us three times, or even more, before we get the message?

17-23    Do we ever find ourselves 'puzzling over' something God may or may not be trying to get over to us? Or is all that kind of thing pretty clear-cut in our experience? Too clear-cut, sometimes? Are we ever conscious (or, have been) that God, directly or indirectly, by the Spirit, or by an angel of some kind, is putting someone in touch with us, or vice-versa? Are we in the habit of seeing every human contact as a possible connecting between us, the other person, & God? In the light of this story, might that be a good habit for us to get into? Is hospitality something we give conscious that it's a gift from God we're passing on, or are we a bit hesitant, reluctant, even for what may seem good reasons? What if what seems a good reason to us rules out a connecting with someone that is actually a part of God's plan for us & them?