The opening line..

Good morning God,
The walk to Jerusalem is nearly over,  the 'business' of Easter is about to begin.
From Sunday onwards the Church worldwide will engage in an orgy of meditation, commemoration and celebration of the events of Holy Week.
From Palm Waving to foot washing to three hour vigils and dawn break services the Church will try and engage others with your story using reading and prayers, litanies, laments, hymns, songs, marches, parades  and of course easter eggs, gardens, palm crosses, oratorios, works of art, drama, dance and...
in the middle of all this:

You.

No wonder you paused before entering Jerusalem,

No wonder you wept.

What a performance.

Yet, this was the way you chose when you created us to be a story loving people and gave us a never-ending story of life and death and resurrection to share.

You made our story - your story, and made certain we would have pictures to point to as well as words to underline in the sharing of it. Like the children that we are, we sit with you and clamor for the story to be told again and again, turning each page with practiced ease and pointing to each well known character.  We delight in the great parade of Palm Sunday and shiver with anticipation in the Garden of Gethsemane, we shout out at the trial before Pilate before falling silent at the drawing of the Crucifixion.. and the tomb. We wait in eager expectation for the final page to be turned so that we can rejoice - and know that the story has a happy ending.

But that is then
and this is now.

We are three days before the storybook story starts, so there is still time to sit with you and hear the story through properly, to pay attention to your words and resist the temptation to just point to the pictures the Church has drawn for us. To remember that although, by your grace, this is our story, it is still your story and you are not a character in a fairy-tale.

Three days to listen, read and reflect on what you are still trying to tell us and to rehearse again the opening line..

For God so loved the world...