Last summer Exeter City Football Club made it to the Conference playoff final at the new Wembley stadium - and I was there. A part of the thirty thousand plus Exeter fans that filled one end of the stadium. It is great being a part of a crowd. Unfortunately things didn't work out last year - but we're pushing hard for another Wembley playoff final again this year (and there could be the chance of beating Torquay on the way!)
But there are dangers in being a part of a crowd. People do things in a crowd that they wouldn't do if they were on their own. Encouraged by those around them, submitting to peer pressure, unthinkingly absorbing the mentality of the crowd...
On the first Palm Sunday Jesus was victoriously welcomed into Jerusalem by the crowd. But within a few days those same people were in another crowd that was calling for Jesus to be killed and an enemy of the people to be set free.
I guess if you could ask those people what they were thinking, many might say that they weren't thinking - they were just going along with everyone else. And that's a danger of a crowd. It is all too easy to get swept along with everyone else without thinking for yourself - or without making a courageous stand against what everyone else is doing, thinking, saying ...
I wonder how many people in church this weekend will simply be a part of the crowd. They don't really know what they believe, or why they believe it. Outside of the church context if they are asked probing questions about their faith they don't really have any convincing responses. They sing the songs without thinking about the words. If everyone else sings 'Hallelujah' they sing 'Hallelujah'. If everyone else starts singing 'Crucify' how many would stop and think?
Being a part of the crowd can be a dangerous place to be unless we know what we believe and why we believe it. Unless we have the courage to swim against the tide or to stand up and be counted when the time comes.
