Palm Sunday services at Seaside went pretty well yesterday. At least there was an awful lot of activity involved. Everyone received a small palm frond when they entered. That was to represent each person's praise. Interesting comments when we talked about the applications to that. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some were stiff, others were pliable. Some looked fresh, others looked dead. Some made a lot of noise when waved around, others were very quiet. Individual praises are just like that. Very different. Some people like to raise hands over head, others prefer kneeling reverently. Some like to sing and even dance to the Lord, others want to sit quietly and listen. Great job on all the connections.
We traced the study of the day as presented by Luke, and he mentions two towns Jesus went through on his way to Jerusalem, Bethphage and Bethany. The names mean House of Figs and House of Dates, so we all shared some Fig Newtons and some actual date chips while the teaching was going on. Interesting reactions by first time tasters of those biblical delicacies. When the story mentioned the people crying out hosannahs "in a loud voice" (which is essentially "mega fonay" in Greek), I screamed for a while through a megaphone. That was fun. Always fun keeping people awake during a sermon. I even had one of the girls walk around on my coat to give that special effect as well. Not too sure how happy Chris was about that one, but she assured me it would be no trouble to wash it.
The action part of the service involved bringing the palm fronds up to a table set up under a cross and laying them down as a symbol of placing our praise at the cross. Then everyone picked up a cross shaped out of palm fronds to show how they were willing to take up the cross of Christ in their own life. In the next action segment, while a song played everyone walked around the room trading palm crosses and speaking words of encouragement to each other. There were some good applications made after that one, too. Again, all different sizes showed the different look of sacrifice in each life. One lady had carefully chosen a cross she thought would look especially nice "as an ornament on my Christmas tree." Then when she heard she would have to trade it away she was a bit upset. But the idea of being there for each other and sharing each other's burdens kind of humbled her. My personal thought on that one was that the ministry we end up receiving from the Lord does not always end up looking the same as the one we envision.
After the service I got to talk to a young man and his mom about baptism. He is going to experience what it feels like to be baptized in the Gulf of Mexico at sunrise on Easter Sunday morning. Nothing quite like it. Can't wait until next Sunday.
1 Peter 1:24-25 says, "For, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.'"
Father, thank you for being there yesterday. Please come again for Easter. We'll be there around sunrise on the beach. Amen.
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