The Saturday before Palm Sunday was dreary. It rained on and off all afternoon and was uncharacteristically cold for Houston (in the 50’s). I found myself feeling really sad about the prospect of a Holy Week done virtually due to the stay home orders related to COVID19. Although my parish is doing a great job with videos and live feeds, it is the participatory nature of Episcopal liturgy that energizes me most. Watching a service on a screen just isn’t the same. I started to wonder what I could do to feel like I was more actively worshiping.

Sunday morning I cut two palm branches and hung them on the railing of my stoop. Seems I was not the only one who wanted to share a bit of liturgy with the neighbors as I saw this vignette of yard angels holding palm branches on Tuesday in my neighborhood.

I also came up with a pretty simple way to turn a string of Christmas lights into a garland of Easter lilies using things I had around the house (and you probably do too!) Here’s video how-to if you want to make one.

I’m planning to hang it up Saturday morning in preparation for Easter Vigil on Saturday night, then turn it on after dark when it is time to proclaim “Christ is risen!”