Encouragement from Bishop Brian for Holy Week

I am celebrating Palm Sunday in both Campbeltown and on the Isle of Islay. Yesterday’s sunshine ensured a beautiful drive from Oban. I stretched my legs at Kilmartin Glen where I visited some of the Neolithic monuments. I reflected that here in the middle of our diocese, five and a half thousand years ago, pagan people ritually buried their dead in cairns because they hoped for an afterlife. It is natural for people to want to live for ever – God has planted this seed within us. It was God’s intention that we live with him forever in heaven, although tragically humanity rejected God. Thankfully God did not reject us. On the first Palm Sunday Jesus entered Jerusalem where he would willingly die for us before gloriously rising again. His perfect love forgave our sin and destroyed death. Holy Week celebrates our redemption. Please participate in your parish’s Holy Week Ceremonies and allow the love of Christ to fill your hearts with hope.