What is Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday is one of several “holidays”, or more correctly holy days that Christians “celebrate”, meaning observe, during Lent, the weeks before Easter

Christians observe Palm Sunday as a reminder of the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem before being tried and sentenced to death.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem
(Mark 11.1-11; Luke 19.28-38; John 12.12-19)

Many people spread clothes on the road, while others put down (palm) branches they had cut from trees. Some people walked ahead of Jesus and others followed behind. They were all shouting,

“Hooray for the Son of David!
God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hooray for God in heaven above!”

Matthew chapter 21, CEV

Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)

© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Edward McKendree Bounds was trained as an attorney, but instead of pursuing a legal career, he entered the ministry in his early twenties. In 1859 he was ordained as pastor of the the Monticello Methodist Church in Missouri.

He edited a Methodist newspaper and wrote books, concentrating on the practice of prayer.

The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer: Including: POWER, PURPOSE, PRAYING MEN, POSSIBILITIES, REALITY, ESSENTIALS, NECESSITY, WEAPON

Bounds served as a chaplain in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was captured by the Union Army in Franklin, Tennessee. After his release, he held weekly prayer sessions there.

The “holy days” of Lent

Lent starts with the well-known Fat Tuesday-Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday.

Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday, illustrated in the Lightstock drawing above.

At my church on Palm Sunday, the preschool-age children march into the sanctuary waving palm branches and singing. The parents and grandparents sit up front, proudly taking pictures and videos. After church, the kids enjoy an Easter egg hunt on the church lawn.

It’s a day to celebrate before we observe the solemn sad day later in the week, Good Friday.

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