Simon Willetts writes for the Hambledon Village magazine:
We did things a little differently this year to mark the start of Holy Week –
2000 years ago Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem for a wonderful event known as the triumphal entry. This momentous occasion marked the occasion that God was going to liberate his people Israel which is why they celebrated with palm leaves shouting Hosanna! (which means – to save, or saviour). The people of the day expected this to be a political and religious liberation which of course it was but not in the way they expected. This king – King Jesus came humbly on a donkey (not in pomp and circumstance on a war horse like his Roman counterparts) to set people free from the far deeper, universal and eternal tyranny of evil and sin.
Llamas at Hambledon Church on Palm Sunday
In true Hambledonian style – we used a couple of Llamas and imagined that they might be long eared donkeys! We are so grateful to the Merry Harriers, Martine, Clara, Tilda and Abbi for bringing two very well behaved Llamas called Champagne and Diesel! We trekked to the large Oak tree and back as part of our service and then explored the meaning of Palm Sunday through creative prayer back at the church.
Diesel and Champagne lead the Palm Sunday procession to the oak tree
On Maundy Thursday we had an evening service of Holy Communion. Alan Betts spoke about the significance of the Passover meal and how Jesus applied all that it means to himself. This tied in really well with what we had learned at Messy Church earlier in the term where we shared (elements of) a Passover meal together as one of our activities.
On Good Friday we held a quiet reflective service that considered how the message of the bible and of salvation can be captured in the story of 3 trees. The 1st Tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve ate from it this separated us from God. The 2nd Tree was the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Through his act on the cross Jesus pays our penalty for sin and re-unites us with God. The 3rd Tree is the Tree of life in the book of Revelation. This tree is a symbol of healing, peace and eternal blessing in God’s presence for all those who trust in Jesus. We are grateful to Frances Shaw for these valuable insights and how she shared them
A Messy Easter activity in the sandpit on Hambledon Common
We picked up on this theme of the Three Trees at our Messy Church Easter Egg hunt on Easter Saturday. We are grateful to Stephen Dean for allowing us to use the sandpit on Hambledon Common. Here we hid some Easter clues that led to the eggs! We then played some games with the parachute followed promptly by Hot cross buns and few more eggs!
On Easter Day the church was full as we celebrated Jesus’ rising from the dead, triumph over death and his leading us to eternal victory. There was a family quiz, which reminded us that Jesus rode on a donkey not a llama or a bmx! We’re unable to say who won the quiz but at least we had coffee, croissant and few more eggs!