Although Palm Sunday did not consist of a filled-to-the-brim Sanctuary with cheering children waving palm branches this year, we at FUMCFW are working hard to keep these favorite First Church traditions alive. For the first time in our history, we had a virtual palm branch parade filled with video clips of our First Church children waving their makeshift palm branches to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem!

Our Communications team and Children’s Ministry joined forces to make this vision a reality! This period of time feels lonely and distant, but it doesn’t have to be void of joy and elation as we celebrate one of the holiest times for us as Christians!

Dr. Mike says, “Like all of us, I felt sad about not being able to physically be together on our church campus for Palm Sunday. However, I am grateful for the dual gifts of technological wizardry and the creative spirit of our FUMC community. In the past couple days, I have seen a number of videos of our children waving their palm branches at home and it has made my heart happy! On Sunday, their pre-recorded welcome of Jesus into Jerusalem was, again, the perfect springboard into Holy Week and the celebration of Easter. The opening words of our Affirmation of Faith are so true, “We are not alone – we live in God’s world.”

We hope our virtual parade of palm wavers will bring you as much joy as we had putting the compilation together.