Palm Sunday - beginning of an amazing week!

What a wonderful way to celebrate Palm Sunday!  My church does this amazing thing that they call "Pilgrimage" ever Palm Sunday.  All people are encouraged to walk to church on that day.  Because many live (literally) miles away from church, there are meet up points to walk together from various homes.  The Rock and Boulder (children and youth) walk together and this year, I walked with them.  It was a "brisk" 28 degrees so hats, gloves and cold weather gear was necessary!  Around 65 of us walked together for 2.5 miles, reminding us of all the faithful people in Jesus' day, who walked miles up to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.  I believe over 200 people walked to church that day!

We stopped several times along the way to hear the Psalms read, which are actually songs that the people would sing as they walked together in their own pilgrimage to Passover.  I can not fully describe what it felt like to be welcomed into the church parking lot to screams of "Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" This was accompanied by waving of palm branches and even a real donkey!  The worship service that followed was a true celebration, including flags waving all around the church.  I managed to snap photos of both Ellie and Zeke with flags!

My perspective on Palm Sunday was forever altered when Pastor Dave shared that this was really an insurrection - a rebellion by the Jewish people against the Roman oppressors. I saw this event in a totally new way, and it made sense to me now that the people thought Jesus would be the one to lead a takeover of the Roman government.  There were millions of Jews and a relatively small number of Roman Soldiers.  I was reminded of how often, I am dissapointed when things do not work out the way I thought they should.  It certainly helped me understand better how we get to Thursday night.  

Yes, this year Holy Week took on a whole new meaning for me.  Reading through the last chapters of the Book of John in the Bible felt new and fresh to me.  Even though I know what is just a week away, the words on the pages seemed present to me.  I am so thankful for this set-apart time to really enter into a world changing event.  

Jesus, thank you for making sure that 2000 years later, we have your words to guide us.  The Bible is an incredible gift for us.  Holy Spirit, remind us that we can all learn and grow, no matter how old we are.  Thank you for community, for family and friends.  Thank you for gifted leadership that bring the Bible stories to life in new ways.  Amen