Hosanna, save me!

Sydney was very excited about Palm Sunday. Not because she's thinking about the significance of the start of Holy Week, but because it's always fun to walk through church with a palm branch. (AJ, as he does every year, grumbled about having to do it. Until he was handed a palm branch. Then all was good.)

As an added bonus this year, I was one of the narrators for the choir cantata, which meant the kids got to sit with me in the church balcony. The novelty of that was beyond exciting! We talked about all of this ahead of time: They would walk with the other kids. AJ would be in charge of keeping an eye on Sydney. They'd, sit up front for the children's sermon. And then, when it was done, they'd quietly walk up the steps to the balcony.

The service started. From my perch, high above the sanctuary, I watched the kids file in. Lots of kids.

None of them mine.

Just about the time I started to get nervous, Sydney and AJ at last appeared, bringing up the rear of the line.

They made it to the front, and immediately I got nervous. Of all the kids up there, why did my two have to end up front and center? Who thought that would be a good idea?

The pastor told all the kids to sit down and invited any other kids in the congregation to also come forward. At last he started the message. "What is special about this day?" He asked the kids.

And that's when my little sweetheart (the female one) shouted out loudly and clearly enough that I could hear her way up in the balcony, "It's April Fool's Day!"

I'd been bracing myself for AJ to do something embarrassing. Sense of habit I guess. Plus, I'd already heard the children's sermon during the first service, and knew the pastor was going to make an analogy comparing the cheers that welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem to the cheers of sports fans. The pastor had used the example of cheering for our local high school team and cheering for the Minnesota Gophers. I figured AJ would have to blurt out something about the Bulldogs being better. But amazingly, AJ held his tongue.

At last the laughter over Sydney's comment died down, and the pastor regained his composure. He continued with the message that the translation of Hosanna means "Save us".

How fitting.