Palm Sunday

Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the Highest!

       As you know, last Sunday was Palm Sunday, and I had an amazing time here in Jerusalem. Most of you who read this have already heard about it, but I thought I'd still write with a few pictures. I went to church in the morning at Christ Church in the Old City. The sermon was wonderful - it was focused on the kingdom of God and the type of counter-cultural Messiah that Jesus was. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, especially since I was in Galilee, so it was really refreshing to hear! After lunch we started heading up to the Mount of Olives where the big procession was supposed to start. It was around 85 degrees, which is probably the hottest its been here so far. There were sooo many people - like thousands - and after waiting quite a while for the procession to start, we saw the beginning of it. I think the leaders were Palestinian Christians, but don't quote me on that. We watched for a while and then joined in with the group I thought seemed like the most fun :) Then for the next couple hours we walked down dancing and singing with whoever was around us. The group I was with the most was from the Dominican Republic, and they had guitars, drums, clarinets, flutes, tambourines - it was SO fun! I was also with a Filipino group for a while and learned some of their cheers/dances. We eventually made it down the Mount of Olives and into the Old City to St. Anne's church. 

The leaders of the procession

Procession with the Old City in view

      There were so many great things about the experience, but one of the coolest was that there were that many people coming together to celebrate JESUS. I've gotten very accustomed to hearing about the Jewish and Muslim celebrations and being around people who do not know Jesus, so it was just amazing to be with that huge crowd who were all there to celebrate and love Jesus. It was also super interesting to see people from pretty much every Christian tradition - Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, (we even talked to some Mennonites from Pennsylvania) - and also from countries all over the world (I didn't hear English very much that afternoon) and we were all there for the purpose of celebrating Jesus. It really was a tiny tiny taste of heaven. So amazing!

Here's my attempt to get a picture of the huge crowd...

I am so thankful that I can be here during this time. I hope that you are reflecting on Jesus' incredible love throughout this season!