United Church of Christ (national site)I just sent off packages to my two grown daughters, each with a small silly gift from the Palm Sunday Duck. The PSD is not as well known as her friend the Easter Bunny, but she does get to come a week earlier.The tradition began with a joke between my mother and me when I was in college, and we took it up again when our children were small. It was fun to look through all the Easter merchandise and find the one or two things that had ducks (not chicks). Our collection of duckiana grew large enough to decorate one of our bathrooms with rubber-duck accessories.
But since I became a minister, there is another reason I send presents from the Palm Sunday Duck: Holy Week is just too busy and too solemn to do any of the bunny-dyed-egg-cellophane-grass activities. I will be taking communion to the homes of our shut-ins, attending the Maundy Thursday service planned by our Deacons, leading the Good Friday service, and reflecting on what to say from the pulpit on Easter that will communicate the wonder and mystery of that morning.
I don’t really mind that Easter has a secular “welcome-to-spring” theme as well as religious meaning. After all, Christmas is the same way. But I can’t quite manage to celebrate both parts of Easter at the same time. So I’ll keep welcoming spring a week early with my good friend the PSD, and save Easter for Easter.
