We had a really great day at church
yesterday. Palm Sunday. Not that the crowd was overly huge (we were
right at 40 again, a solid core number for us) or that we had some kind of
incredible offering (Although one lady did tell me she was really excited to
have found on our website that she could give electronically. Apparently the only check she writes has been
to Seaside. What a New World we live
in. But other than that, I have no idea
how much came in). I think the thing
that made it seem so special was the involvement of so many folks.
We had a Body Life service, where the
people were asked to come prepared to be worship leaders. I still did a teaching, albeit a shortened
one. In our study of the Gospel of John
we are right at the crucifixion, and I was determined to finish the crucifixion
before Easter. We got down to Jesus’ quietly
victorious “It is finished” and the supernaturally explosive echo of the victory,
with an earthquake and people coming out of their graves and the veil of the Temple
ripping from top to bottom. Pretty
praise-worthy stuff. I actually did the
teaching right at the beginning of the service, so it led right into kind of a
Palm Sunday flashback of praise, giving us a reason to make our praise
heartfelt. Right after the teaching
(which I began draped in a shroud. I
threw it off when I got to the supernatural echo part. Just a little dramatic touch), everyone went
to one side of the room or the other where baskets of palm fronds were
waiting. They picked up a frond and then
traded it with someone from the opposite side of the room, sharing a word of
encouragement as well. That exercise
went really well. They didn’t want to
stop. The main part of the worship experience,
though, came with the individual sharing.
Someone brought up a beautiful painting of Jesus on what looked like a
strip of bark off of a tree. One lady
told the story of the three trees to the kids sitting on the front row. Made them feel really special. One of the young teenagers sang a song. Several people shared personal testimonies
and favorite scriptures. One of my
favorite parts was during our prayer time.
As an act of adoration, I asked everyone to call out names of God to
him. The response was really
exciting. Lots of folks got involved,
and I even saw a tear or two, just from hearing God’s name spoken. Powerful stuff. Powerful name.
The closing involved everyone taking their
palm frond, placing it on the ground at the foot of our cross, and taking up a
cross of their own, one made out of palm fronds. Then they invited someone to join them at the
communion station to share in that kind of worship together. And after that they traded crosses. It was a really strong picture of community. As a final charge I reminded them about the
time the religious leaders told Jesus to keep his followers quiet. He replied, “If the people are quiet, the
rocks will cry out.” Earlier I had told
Cailyn that story and she drew me a picture of some rocks singing and clipped a
palm cross to the corner. That’ll be a
special memory for me. So I encouraged
them to come together as a family and find or create a special Palm Sunday
reminder of their commitment to Jesus. Pick
up a shell at the beach or a rock in the back yard and remember … if you don’t praise
Jesus, that rock or shell will do it for you.
I for one don’t want a rock doing my praising.
Psalms 5:3 says, “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my
requests before you and wait in expectation.”
Father, I knew there was something special
about mornings. Amen.
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