And with it something exotic is coming to northern Europe. Adults and children worship the coming king with branches or little pieces of palm from the Middle East – or they would if it weren’t for a pandemic. The props come from a long way off, just like our faith does. Even the more local donkey has not been a big feature of our daily life for a long time. The crowd welcomes a ‘king’, but it’s a long time since monarchs wielded any real power in our part of the world. The Bible is a long way away, in space and time. But there are points of correspondence with our life. The donkey symbolism represents a humble leader – but a powerful influence nevertheless. It is said that Churchill described Clement Attlee as “A modest man with much to be modest about.” Yet Attlee had a powerful impact on the life of the UK.
the adventures of retirement