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Humility - an Easter Thought
The church is big on humility, and how we should be humble, and serve others. It even talks about Jesus being humble. But then, in the next breath, it sets him up as a glorious, triumphant, king - the sort of conquering hero who deserves, and gets, a big bronze statue set up in the main square of a capital city, celebrating his strength, his power, his might.
This week, I have read the ‘Easter story’ several times in each of the gospels - soaking in the imagery, letting my imagination (aided by what I know of the times and the places) run riot, and it struck me how ordinary, how humble all of the imagery is.
Reading about the ‘triumphal entry’ (as some bibles title the passage), something struck me...
The next day the great crowd that had come to the feast, hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches from the palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried out, “Hosanna, blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord, and the king of Israel!” And Jesus, having found a young ass, mounted it, just as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; see, your king comes seated on the foal of an ass.” John 12:12-15, quoting Zechariah 9:9
A New Spiritual Practice
Hand-washing is all the rage! The novel Coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, seems mostly to be passed on via droplet infection - so by breathing in droplets suspended in the air, or by touching something on which droplets have landed which is contaminated with virus particles, and then transferring them to one’s eyes, nose, or mouth with the hands. So thorough hand-washing is important. But how long should I wash my hands for? The experts say it takes about twenty seconds for soap and water to destroy the virus - so stages 2-7 in the poster below ought to take you at least twenty seconds. I would ignore the ‘visibly soiled’ part of the instructions below - the danger we’re dealing with here, is that your hands can be dangerously contaminated whilst looking perfectly clean!!!
How long is twenty seconds? If you say the Lord’s Prayer, and you aren’t racing through it, it should take you more than twenty seconds… It usually takes me twenty-five or more. Ample time to kill that virus! And to connect with God!
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