Dixie the donkey helped set the mood for Palm Sunday at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, evoking the donkey that Jesus rode upon his triumphant entry into Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago.
“Now you are in Jerusalem,” the church’s rector, the Rev. Janet Broderick, told the congregation as Dixie marched down the aisle and waited during the traditional blessing of the palms.
Then the gray donkey, adorned with a seasonally appropriate red garment and accompanied by the strains of “All Glory, Laud and Honor,” led a procession of clergy, parishioners and choristers up the aisle, out the back door, through the cloister to the parking lot, up Miller Road to South Street and up the steps to the front of the church.
Later, sans donkey, members of the congregation joined in a participatory reading of the Passion Gospel, with different people portraying the characters in the story of the Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest, trial, sentencing and execution. St. Peter’s held the palms procession and Gospel reading — with the same donkey, but different readers — at the 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. services.
Additional Holy Week services and events at St. Peter’s are: Holy Communion, 6:45 a.m. Monday through Thursday and 12:10 p.m. Thursday; Maundy Thursday liturgy with footwashing, Holy Communion and music by the Girls Choir, 7 p.m. Thursday, preceded by a 6 p.m. Agape Supper; Night Watch, with the chapel open all night for meditation, beginning 8 p.m. Thursday; children’s Good Friday liturgy, 10 a.m. Friday; Good Friday three hours of devotion, with Scripture readings, hymns, anthems by the Adult Choir and sermons (presented in five segments; worshipers are invited to come and go as needed); and the Great Vigil of Easter, with choir, brass and organ, 7 p.m. Saturday.
Holy Communion will be celebrated on Easter at 7:45 a.m., 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., with choir, brass and organ music at the two later services. An Easter egg hunt will be held after the 9 a.m. service.
