Palm Sunday

“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ “
Matthew 21:8-9

It was a special service at church this morning, not only celebrating Palm Sunday, when we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but we were also blessed with a visit from the Bishop of the West Ohio Methodist conference, who preached the message this morning. The choir sang as usual, and the handbells also played. After the service, we all gathered outside for a formal service of blessing for “The Inn at St.Paul”, the name given to the house next to the church, where in October we welcomed a refugee family of 7 from Eritrea. After the blessing, we all returned inside for a fellowship lunch, which was largely Eritrean food, two vegetarian dishes prepared by another Eritrean family, which was very good, and very similar to the Ethiopian food we had enjoyed with our daughter and son-in-law in Salt Lake City, served with their traditional flatbread. There was also chicken and salad, for people with less adventurous tastes - one of the dishes was quite spicy! The mother of the family in the “Inn” baked a big special loaf to accompany the meal.
It has been a strange day weather-wise. The forecast called for storms on and off throughout the day, and we were indeed under a Strong Wind advisory, but there were also periods of very pleasant warm sunshine. We thought we would go walking at the Nature Centre at Rowe Woods, but unfortunately when we got to the gate, we were informed they were closing the trails due to the strong winds - a legal liability issue I guess, if a tree should happen to fall. So then we thought we would go walking at Sharon Woods, one of the Hamilton County Parks, but by the time we got there the skies were beginning to look rather threatening, so in the end we returned home and played it safe!