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  Palm Sunday Gospel – Matthew 21:1-11 Journey/Destination Walking the Palm Sunday Road When I was little and growing up in the country in Southern Maryland, there were a lot of times, mostly Sunday afternoons, when we would all pile into the car and go visit family.   We would always sit together on the front porch, share tea and cookies and conversation.   Needless to say, as a child, I was only interested in the cookies, not the adults’ conversation.   But if there were any cousins home, then we would use the time to play together.   And every place we went was warm and welcoming.   Welcomes!!   This is what we hear in the Gospel for Palm Sunday.   Jesus, entering the city of Jerusalem, welcomed like a rock star – people laying down their cloaks and branches like a red carpet.   People yelling Hosanna to welcome the Son of David.   Cheering Him on like it was a parade for winning the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup. And yet, onl...
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  Saturday – 5 th Week of Lent Gospel – John11:45-56 Can’t We All Just Get Along?   Caiaphas’ House, Jerusalem Let’s face it – at times, we all get aggravated with each other.   And lately, we only have to read the paper or watch the news to see how often people bicker and argue and, at times, literally explode in rage.  Maybe it's the long TSA lines at the airport or that heated political 'discussion'.   We all know what irritates our little brother/sister and yet we do it anyway.   I knew exactly what buttons to push to send my sister, for instance, over the edge and all my siblings knew exactly what to do to set me off.    Was it messy?   Did we get in trouble?   Of course!   And yet we did it anyway! But it’s something quite different to actually band together to deliberately plot against someone.   We all know what it’s like to be ganged-up-on, to be picked on not by a single person but by a whole group of pe...
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  Friday – 5 th Week of Lent Gospel – John10:31-42 One of Those Days Tennessee Sunrise Jesus did not have a good day!   The Jews and Pharisees continue to debate (argue) with Him.   They remain stubborn and unconvinced that He is anything but a troublemaker and a blasphemer.   They refuse to really listen to His words.   They become so upset that they pick up stones to stone Him to death.   Through it all, Jesus remains calm and tries to ‘reason’ with them.   But nothing works.   In the end, they try to arrest Him and He flees out of the city.   You have to imagine how frustrated and heart-sick He must be – they just won’t listen and believe!   They want Him dead and He knows that time is coming very soon.   So He retreats out of the city to a familiar place, to the place where John baptized, where Jesus was baptized, where His public life and mission really began.   You have to imagine that, in some ways, this was a q...
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