Yes, it's the happiest time of the year once again! We kicked off Holy Week with an ecumenical procession of the palms. Three churches participated: Disciples of Christ congregational church, St. Angela's Catholic church and St. Mary's-by-the-Sea Episcopal church. We all met at Berwick Park in Pacific Grove, down by the bay, and after saying a few blessings and prayers we processed up the street singing "All Glory Laud and Honor" and "The King of Glory." After stopping to exchange "the peace" all around, each congregation split off and made its way to its home church for the Palm Sunday services. (Image from the Monterey County Herald)
At our church we do the reading of the passion play at the end of that service, and I had asked to read the Evangelist this year. Our priest acquiesced on the condition that I recruit everyone else and put the thing together. We never had a chance to rehearse it, but everyone handled their parts with aplomb. Based on my experience in theater I asked everyone to keep the energy up by not allowing silence between the lines - rather, to step on each others figurative toes. I thought it worked very well, and lots of folks said how much they enjoyed it. I did have one complaint from a person who had participated in prior years - he thought it was too fast. They had been instructed in the opposite manner, which was to leave at least a second of space between each line. That is a valid approach, but I prefer the way we did it this year. There are many instances when the Evangelist is simply saying "then Jesus said" and "Pilate replied" and the such like. I don't think that's a place where one needs time for reflection!
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