We had a beautiful Palm Sunday service, but now I have a mystery to solve. First hymn: "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna". The kids come down the aisle, waving their palm branches, deposit them under the communion table, and exit off to the side. I blink rapidly (can't help it, that scene gets me every year), keep singing, we sit, the service continues. About halfway through the service, I look down...and there are no palm branches under the table. Where did they go? What did I miss? I still don't know. Did I really see the kids set them down? The sun and tears were in my eyes, after all. Friends could shed no light; when I mentioned the mystery to the baritone behind me, he said, "Did that happen? When did the kids come in?" LOL.
The preaching text was Matthew's account of the triumphal entry, with a twist I had never heard before: why two donkeys? A naturalistic explanation would be that it's almost impossible to separate a mother donkey from her foal! But the application our pastor drew was that the second donkey is for each of us to ride, to go with Jesus straight into and through the crises of our lives. As we know, to get to Easter, we do have to go through Good Friday.
We are all going to be crazy busy this week. My prayer is that we will each make time for reflection, and intentionally and consciously walk through this week with Jesus.
12 comments:
Let us know when you find out what happened to those palm branches! Mysteries like that get under my skin too!
And I've never heard that about the two donkeys either. I like it!
I can solve the mystery!!!!!! but maybe I should let it be a mystery for a while longer . . .
Okay, that's long enough. The good folks leading Children's Chapel needed palms for their lesson, and we didn't have any extra ones, so they asked me before hand if it would be okay if they just took some from under the table when they left with the children. I said that would be fine with me, I didn't think it would bother anyone. Sorry if it did bother you! But it was a great sermon, wasn't it?
I confess - I am the palm-napper. Now, since I dropped several when trying to pick them from under the table (that always seems to happen when trying to be discrete), I wonder where your attention was. During Children's Chapel we told the story again with the children waving the palms. I also acted as "donkey" (or was it an ass) and the kids rode on my back as others laid palms in front. They were put to good use!
I too have been stumped by the two-donkey thing. Depending on the specific gospel and translation, it sounds like Jesus rode both, which seems kinda odd...
Grinning about the palms incident....
Blessings on your week!
Oh I like the idea of the two donkeys!
Hee hee. I'm glad to know I wasn't going nuts. (as far as I know)
I would have paid money to see Fergus in Children's Chapel with the kids on his back.
Interesting, the idea of the two donkeys, one for "us"
I've always wondered about those two animals, with one of my children suggesting that Jesus rode standing astride two well-trained donkeys! Thanks for the wishes for this week, too.
I'm with Jan. As a child I thought Jesus did that standing up on two donkeys like I'd seen Kurt Russell do in a Disney Circus story.
Love the "case of the disappearing palms" story ... as for the two donkeys, I thought it was that the prophet spoke of "unblemished" (read "virgin") animal that would be riden ... thus Jesus rode the foal ... accompanied by the mother. Sounds like a very creative sermon for the very important reminder that without Good Friday, there is no Easter.
Zorro, re your coment on Fergus..
Cross my palm with silver and I could arrange it.
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