Palm Sunday Kids
Joe Hickman,
editor,
HaLife.com
"Okay, who likes to pretend?" asked
the lady sitting in the midst of some 25 children during the
Palm Sunday worship service at Eastminster Church in Dallas.
Little hands quickly shot up.
The lady, as though she suddenly had binoculars, rolled her
thumbs and fingers together and peered down the aisle toward the
back of the sanctuary.
'Oooh, look!" she exclaimed! "Some men have a donkey. It looks
like someone is going to ride a donkey. See the donkey?" she
asked.
By now every child has quickly devised his or her own
binoculars, and are peering toward the back of the church.
"Yeah, I see him," one child almost shouts, then others affirm
they too see the donkey.
"Oh, it's going to be a parade!" the lady says, and look,
everyone is putting palm branches and their clothes on the path
for the donkey to walk on!" Let's join them!
She passes out scarves and the children cover the aisle with
scarves and palm leaves.
"Oh, don't you just love a parade?" asks the lady, and the
children, seemingly getting more excited, start blowing horns,
and twirling noise makers, and in almost an instant, the
congregation can no longer restrain itself and breaks into
applause.
I did too, and it felt good, pretending with the children, Jesus
was entering Jerusalem triumphantly just as the prophets had
predicted hundreds of years earlier.
Whenever you want to get my attention spiritually, the quickest
way into my soul is through children. And though the pastor in
her sermon led us to recall the crucifixion followed the parade,
next Sunday we will zero in once again on the glorious
resurrection. And the reality that, thanks to the Cross, it's
all going to be all right.
This week I hope you can be around children. They are our
greatest teachers, imparting to us three most important lessons
in life: innocence, simplicity, and absolute trust. These three
lessons, reaching into our souls, allow us to develop a
relationship with God the Father, bring us indescribable joy,
and guarantee us life forever in the Kingdom of Heaven.
I am really glad I went to church today.
Feedback
|
