Our Palm Sunday Adventure

Sunday (yesterday), we had a wonderful adventure yesterday carrying on a Palm Sunday tradition with the Sunday School children. Many of them showed up early (something that’s very unusual in India) bright eyed and ready for fun. The brought palm branches and all the flowers they could find. (I rather doubt there is a flowering tree or bush in any of their courtyards that hasn’t been unclothed of all flowers within reach. :) Having arrived armed with all the necessary supplies, the children proceeded to bedeck their branches with as many flowers they could attach their sturdy banners.

When the children had finished the ornamenting their branches, we assembled in front of the church and set out to walk through the neighborhood singing and praising God in a manner very similar to the first Palm Sunday (only in Telugu instead of Aramaic).

When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Luke 19:37-38

As we trekked through the streets in the early morning bustle, we saw parts of our neighborhood we had never seen before. Needless to say, we created quite a stir and attracted many people watching us from the street, their front gates, and their windows.

By the time we arrived back at the church, our antics had added about 10 neighborhood children to our Sunday School. They stayed around because there were biscuits (cookies) for after the lesson. Since at this point, Sunday School, which normally lasts only 30-45 mins, had already been an hour long, Bethany taught a quick lesson on the triumphal entry. She talked about how a crowd who had welcomed Jesus as king at the beginning of the week became a mob who cried for his crucifixion at the end of the week because they were only interested in His miracles and blessings and not in really having Him be the Lord of their lives. We pray that the Lord will use these words in the lives of our regular Sunday School children and plant seeds in the hearts of our guests. Please pray with us that these visitors will also attend VBS in a few weeks.