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Good Morning. Perhaps you’ve packed a bag for today or are thinking ahead to what you need for the Bank Holiday getaway? For Christians this week is about travel. It is a week of pilgrimage, spiritual or actual, following Jesus from his triumphant entry into Jerusalem to his death on the cross outside the city wall - with the promise of new life beckoning beyond. Jesus tips for packing are pretty simple and pretty fearsome. He is of the minimalist school. No purse, no bag, no sandals.

There is something enormously freeing in this minimalist route whatever our journey. My bulging bag is not just heavy, or expensive in excess baggage it speaks of greed – more than I can possibly read or wear on one week; or by vanity – I must look good no matter what; or anxiety – how can I get it right?

Taking the minimalist route, the via negative, as some writers on spirituality call it, stepping out without purse or bag or sandal, pinpoints that what we leave out is as important as what we put in.

Anxiety can cripple us and vanity can distract us. An Erich Fromm line from school hit home: ‘Greed is a bottomless pit which exhaust the person in an endless effort to satisfy without ever really satisfying.’

Lord, help us to travel light, freed from things we can do without. Help us to discard baggage which weighs us down and be open to those in need. Amen