Jesus Is Coming!

Working in children's ministry has definitely made me more aware of holidays. I will shamefacedly admit that I'm one of those people who has never made a big deal about Easter, or any of Holy Week, really. Every year when it comes and goes, I tell myself that next year, I'm going to do the whole thing--Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday--all leading up to Easter. I'll pick something to give up, I'll meditate my way through the right Bible passages, find a devotional, something. And every year, it comes and goes again with me having done little more than attending church on Palm Sunday and Easter. I don't feel guilty about it, but I would like to really experience it more thoughtfully.

Anyway, as I said, working in children's ministry at least ensures that I put more thought into what we're doing as a church to celebrate holidays. A long-standing Palm Sunday tradition at our church is that we get palm branches for the kids and have them stand outside the auditorium waving them and shouting "Hosanna!" When you live in California, I guess you have to take advantage of the availability of fresh palm branches.

This year, we augmented the thing a bit. The kids started the same way as usual, standing outside the auditorium with their branches. They waved them enthusiastically and shouted, "Jesus is coming!" as congregants entered the auditorium.

A lot of people (including myself until this year) always try to sneak in the side to avoid running the gauntlet of waving and shouting children, but we do our best to make them walk down the middle.

This year, though, we actually had ourselves a Jesus, in the form of the youth pastor, and twelve disciples.

In the middle of one of the songs during the service, we had the kids run into the auditorium shouting, "Jesus is coming!" The first few kids were followed by Jesus and the disciples and then all the other kids shouting, "Hosanna, glory to God in the highest," etc.

The congregation was surprised and, I think, delighted. And most joined in, which was good, because the younger kids froze up and didn't do much more than walk down the aisle waving their branches. Looking cute, of course. It was chaotic, noisy, a little confused--and thus probably a decent replication of the original.

It's funny. As hard as it can be for me to be around children and their parents when I'm feeling down, the kids themselves (especially those older than about 3) never fail to lift my spirits. So enthusiastic, so unpredictable, so unique. As Pete would say, they're just so stinkin' cute.