Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is often celebrated by kids waving palms as they fill church aisles. Obviously that wasn't going to happen with Corona Virus (CORVID-19) forcing churches to close for the sake of everyone's health.

By the time we knew Palm Sunday worship would have to be canceled, it was too late for The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville to cancel their order of palms. Rather than letting them go to waste, they set up a drive-by station where people could pick up palms. According to their website, they ran out of palms by Friday.

People took quick videos of themselves waving their palms (if they did not get a palm tree palm they were encouraged to wave the palm of their hands). The church then pieced these videos together and played it during Palm Sunday worship. Not the same, but a creative solution to the problem.

The church also added a labyrinth this year to the space between the old and new parts of the church. You can see the ropes marking it behind me. 

Every time I see it I am transformed to the time I spent in Israel. On the kibbutz where I stayed was a small labyrinth, really a spiral path that I took to walking prayerfully most evenings. I never saw anyone while I walked this small loop back and forth. Many days it brought me peace as it was a chance to be alone with God and not with everyone else.

Sharing a room at my age was an adjustment. I'll try to remember that when Ashley goes to college in the fall, and have sympathy on her.

Back to Lawrenceville. 

Over the years the church has set up a labyrinth. I seem to recall it was inside. We are all adjusting to the new normal, including the church. This year they moved their labyrinth inside. There is a set of instructions, but there is no right or wrong way to do it as long as you follow it prayerfully. You can recite a word (hope, peace, etc.) or walk into it looking for discernment and as you walk out of it, listen for God's word, which is often easier to say than to do. At the center is a cross, because that is what should be at the center of Christian lives.

I have so many thoughts I've created a list of blog talking points. May I find the energy and desire to write about them. Even though Aunt Elva is living through her second pandemic (she was born before the 1918 Spanish Flu), I hope to never live through anything like this again.

Good luck with Week 4, we can do it!