Palm Sundays of the past to Palm Sundays of the present.
A few years ago now I spent Easter in Genoa.
One memory of that visit were weaving our own Palm Crosses from the Palm branches in the churchyard. I had a very good tutorial from the Churchwarden Mary and, after a couple of false starts,, managed to make some Palm Crosses that could be used in the service.
Another memory was on Easter Sunday itself, many of the congregation were away visiting family in the UK and the congregation was much smaller than on a normal Sunday. As I was reading the Gospel the doors burst open and a group of young people burst into the Church.
They were uniformly tall, blond, distinguished and brought a gust of fresh air through the doors with them. My first thought was that they were American. The Churchwardens welcomed them and seated them and as we sang the next hymn their voices filled the church.
As Gerald Manley Hopkins said, it was a joy to have them Easter with us.
Over a glass of wine after the service it transpired that they were Danish and had been looking for a Church to worship at Easter and in particular wanted an English speaking congregation, so they found us.
Hallelujia.
I have always enjoyed a procession on Palm Sunday and have usually blessed the palms outside and then processed into Church singing, Ride on, Ride on in Majesty.
At the Cathedral in Bradford I welcomed a Donkey from the Animal Farm and we walked from Little Germany to the Cathedral. After much discussion the Chapter agreed that the donkey could be welcomed into the Cathedral as he led the procession, but there was some concern about how safe this would be and so he had his own personal verger, carrying a silver bucket and a shovel in case of mishap.
The first Donkey to be verged into a Cathedral.
During my first Easter in my present parish we were graced with the presence of a very fine Donkey known as Donkey Oaty.
He obviously enjoyed the fuss as much as the children enjoyed leading him in the procession.
As G K Chesterton wrote in his poem:
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
As I look in my rear view mirror I see a ministry that was both a duty and a joy, a privilege and a blessing and I can only hope that I can look forward to privilege and blessing in the future.
Meanwhile this year as I reflect on the events that have overtaken me I am reminded of the Gerald Manley Hopkins poem referred to above in which he wrote about the Wreck of the Deutschland in which five Franciscans Nuns were drowned on their way from Germany to New York.
Hopkins used the word easter as a verb:
Let him easter in us .......
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