Monday, April 10, 2006

"They Say that I Can Move the Mountains"

(click on image to enlarge)

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the day which Christians celebrate the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem on a donkey to crowds who laid their coats and palm branches on the ground in for the donkey to tread on. Hosana means "save now".

Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting,
"Praise God for the Son of David!
Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Praise God in highest heaven!"
Matthew 21:8-9

For as long as I can remember, the churches I have attended have had Palm branches available on the Sunday before Easter. Children usually did a procession into the church waving the green, leafy plants. Even the adults would get a branch.

But there was always a difference between the adults holding palm branches, and the children who held them. Kids can make anything fun, including pieces of tree. And so, they play with the palm branches in church. They wave them around. They use them to dance. They sing Hosana! Hosana! Loudly, as if they were really a part of the celebrations when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey.

The adults on the other hand, they try to quiet and calm down the children. The adults hold their branches at a modest level, not making a big deal about the whole situation. They are dignified and reverent. That's what church is all about, right?

They say that I can move the mountains
And send them falling to the sea
They say that I can walk on water
If I would follow and believe
With Faith Like a Child
"Like a Child", Jars of Clay

Maybe there is something we can learn from these children. Maybe we shouldn't be so dignified by holding our palm branches at our side. Maybe we should dance and sing and shout and wave or palms!

The he said, "I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."
Matthew 18:3-4

2 comments:

Anthony said...

Thanks for the reminder to be like child. We will always be God's kids why not rejoice in the fact that we are a little more often and with a little less reservation.

Anonymous said...

You can pretty much do whatevere you want in church, if the Spirit moves you to do it, if not you go to another church.

But that is the adults job, to try to make kids into stuffy, boring adults like themselves, to be responsible, productive, contributing members of society, and everyone knows that when you become an adult the fun is over. They say children laugh at least 300 times a day, whereas adults laugh only a few times a day if at all. So what does that tell you?

But that is the reason I never liked adults when I was a kid, they simply weren't any fun, and even now that I am an adult, not really a responsible one though, I still don't enjoy most adults, they simply ain't any fun, not my kind of fun anyway. I have a unique sense of humor, that not many people understand.

But Amen to kids and may they never grow up to be old, stuffy, boring, adults.