Palm Sunday at St Denys Church in Evington was an extra special celebration on Sunday as the service was taken out into the community.
Bishop Saju had tasked Kimberley Tyler (who is currently exploring a call to ordained ministry) to use her creativity to put together a service, and she certainly delivered.
An appeal went out for a donkey, but despite lots of social media attention, a real donkey could not be found.
Always up for a challenge, our fun-loving Bishops’ Chaplain, Revd James Pickersgill, agreed to dress-up as the important animal, along with a willing volunteer called Dave, and the day was saved.
During a procession around the village, Kimberley explained the joyful celebration that Palm Sunday is and encouraged people to share what Palm Sunday meant to them.
The donkey - and the Bishop - drew the attention of the public, as people hooted their car horns, slowed down to take a look, and waved.
In the village centre, Bishop Saju prayed a blessing on the community and everyone sang ‘hosanna’. Palm crosses were blessed and Kimberley led prayers of confession using the palm cross, inviting the congregation to place them on different parts of their bodies such as heads, mouths and hearts.
A memorable service, there were lots of smiles and positive comments made afterwards, including, “it was a lovely morning and the organisation of the service was so well done and brought up to date, but still retained the meaning of the day.”