Holy Innocents and St Columba Episcopal Churches

Palms and Psalms And Passion And Sorrow

Today's Palm Sunday service came off a little differently than I thought; instead of walking around the outside of the church, singing "All Glory Laud And Honor" while trying to stay on key and at the same tempo, we stayed inside. There were several good reasons for staying inside - there were several parishioners who really didn't need to go traipsing around in the cold for health reasons, first day of Spring notwithstanding. Also, have you ever tried to sing "All Glory Laud And Honor" outdoors while hopping from tussock to tussock in dress shoes on a damp tundra? Unless everybody stays bunched up, you can't hear anyone else, and the results are "less than optimal" musically.

But there was an unexpected bonus this morning. Just before we gathered everyone for the Liturgy of the Palms, Father Ted asked Linda Milner if she could have the church school children scatter palm leaves one by one during the procession, as the kids would all be in a bunch at the end. They were to take whatever leaves were left on the table after they were blessed, and after everyone else had picked up a palm leaf to carry.

The blessing went off normally, and we started off on a circular route from the door across the front of the altar, and then around the edges of the sanctuary, singing loudly. We had enough people, once everyone got moving, for the altar party to catch up to the group of church school kids, who were enthusiastically strewing palm leaves every few feet.

Then it appeared that we were all in a great unbroken circle, singing and waving palms and endlessly traveling together on the palm-strewn road to Jerusalem. At last, we were able to do this difficult and triumphal hymn justice from beginning to end, without getting "imbrangled."

I just wish I could say the same about the sung psalm. I thought I had it, but the pitches eluded me in the clutch.

"Why, what evil has he done?"

The reading of the Gospel for Palm Sunday went off with a bang - following long tradition the speaking parts were distributed among a number of people. All the first-timers did very well and projected their voices stongly - we'll probably never stage a full-on Passion Play, but we're good at reading parts.

I complimented this year's "Pilate" on his portrayal, as he managed somehow to make the governor of Judea sound like a bored bureaucratic paper-pusher trying to deal with a troublesome problem, and finding a way to make it somebody else's responsibilty.

The Gospel always ends with the Crucifixion, so in a way it anticipates the events that are played out on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. We started in triumph, and we ended in grief. As the choir assembled to practice the special music for the upcoming services, the Altar Guild and servers draped all the images and statues with purple mourning cloths, and hung the white backdrop over at the side where the Altar of Repose will be. Thursday night, it will become for a while the Tomb, floating in a sea of white Easter lilies. Every white candle we've got will be burning for the Vigil.

So now, we wait.

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