Palm Sunday

We had quite of day of celebrating Jesus and recognizing the true meaning for the Easter season.  It was a wonderful day!

 At church Nathan and Emma participated in a Palm Sunday processional, complete with palm branches... this always takes me back to my own childhood and how much I enjoyed being a part of such a thing.  

This event is one of my all time favorite at our church... the kids, the branches, worshiping with this song... It couldn't be more meaning to me.

Emma was a little nervous (she doesn't like people to watch her), but she felt better with Nathan holding her hand.  He is such a sweet big brother!

The rest of our service was different than usual.  There was no sermon.  Instead, each 300+ of us filed up to the front to experience nailing our own sin to the cross of Jesus.  We wrote something of our choosing on a post it note, picked a nail from the white basket and the hammered it to the cross.  It was a very solemn time, with only quiet music or a solo at times, and other times the only sound was that of nails being pounded into the cross.
Since Nathan was with us in the service he was able to participate in this as well.

As we hammered in the nails we thought about how our sins were nailed to the cross that day in history. We remembered Jesus’ words: “It is finished.” He bore the pain of the cross so we could be forgiven and set free from slavery.  
I think many people left this service with a renewed appreciation for Christ's sacrifice on the cross and a burden lifted from the symbolic act.

At home we braced ourselves with hope for the coming snow storm... and sure enough in the late afternoon, big beautiful snowflakes began falling.  It was a glorious afternoon!
We began a new tradition with a resurrection egg hunt in our home.  Each child was able to collect 3 of the 12 hidden eggs, and then we gathered together to go through the story of Christ's death and resurrection.  Whoever had the particular egg that corresponded to the story was allowed to open it and show the object.  

All four kids REALLY enjoyed this!  We will probably do it again before Easter!

What a difference 24 hours makes!