Holy Week

On Palm Sunday we checked out a large church nearby (figuring it might be nice to just blend into the crowd at a big church right now). We could have easily walked in and out without talking to hardly anyone if it wasn't for taking Nils to the nursery and Anders to a Sunday School class. On some level that was nice--though I know if we were looking for a long-term church family, it would have been a big turn off. They did read the gospel narrative for Palm Sunday and had some of the kids come up and wave branches (I'm not sure any did) and play percussion instruments (which I think they all did) during the praise songs. But the sermon was in no way connected to Palm Sunday (not that it wasn't a good sermon--it's message was very pertinent to us, but it was weird for me to kind of just ignore the fact that it was Palm Sunday).

We almost forgot about St. Patrick's Day yesterday (not that we're ever very outgoing in celebrating it). We watched Anders' Veggie Tales Video Sumo of the Opera which had a segment about the life of St. Patrick. Who was English, by the way. He was kidnapped and taken to Ireland. He later left and went through theological training and then returned to Ireland as a missionary to the people there.

But right now it's odd to not have a church family to be a part of for Holy Week. Of course there are plenty of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services we could attend this week, but they don't have the draw without being connected to a church family. Easter is going to be weird, too. But, we're trying to keep our focus on Christ. And we're particularly aware of what He did for us and of God's unrelenting love for us. And of course, of His forgiveness. Amen.