A Palm Sunday Message from Rector Chris Girata
Blessings to you!
Friends, as we approach the beginning of Holy Week, I want to help you prepare in a special way. This Sunday, we will celebrate Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem before his Passion. Palm Sunday is such an amazingly festive service, and at Saint Michael, we throw all the joy we can into the service. This year, however, we can’t physically be together to share all the special moments, like waving palms, seeing the donkey, and hearing the beautiful bagpipes and drums. Yet we can still prepare our homes for the celebration!
When I was a child, one of my favorite moments of the year was sitting in the church pew with my mother before the Palm Sunday service began, folding the palms into little crosses. With each cross made, I got more and more excited about the joy of the day, and I want to share that joy with you at home. At Saint Michael, I have relived that experience with the wonderful women of the Altar Guild who gather each year to make hundreds of palm crosses for our church. This year, even though we cannot gather together, we can still make crosses at home!
The video above offers instructions for how to fold crosses. Most of us don’t have palms at home, so I offer the same instruction with paper. We can all decorate our homes for Palm Sunday, whether with paper crosses or using greenery from our yards. I invite you to put greenery on your front doors to mark your home as a place of faithfulness, letting your neighbors know that you will be ready for Jesus to enter our world, to enter our hearts, in a new way!
And I would love to see how you prepare your homes! Please send us your pictures of how you decorate now for Palm Sunday, and pictures of how you worship with us anytime. You may respond to this note or email [email protected] with your images. We may use your images in our publications, so please let us know if you prefer that they be kept private.
Our great Holy Week begins this Sunday. Click here to see our full worship schedule. Palm Sunday services begin the week, with special services streamed every night at 7 p.m., a children and family experience at noon on Good Friday, and culminates with the celebration of Easter live next week!
May this week be holy in new ways, a special blessing to you all!
With hope,
The Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Girata
Rector
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