Palm Sunday procession

In recent years Palm Sunday in Seven Kings has seen the congregations of St Pauls Goodmayes and St Johns Seven Kings process between the two churches accompanied by a donkey and children dressed as disciples. The procession has been jointly organised by the two churches and has become an annual community event.

The year the service begins in St Paul’s Goodmayes (Atholl Road) at 10.00am and ends in St John’s Seven Kings (St John’s Road) at 11.15am. Procession route: Atholl Road – Westwood Recreation Ground – Meads Lane - St John’s Road.


The original Palm Sunday featured a joyful procession as Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a colt and the people praised God and spread cloaks and palms on the ground (see Matthew 21):

“They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 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!" When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

The service and procession are a joyful celebration for us and, we hope, a visible act of witness to our community. Fr. Benjamin Rutt-Field, parish priest of St Paul's Goodmayes, has said that the procession reminds him of his three month sabbatical in Japan, "where the indigenous faiths of Shinto and Buddhism celebrate their festivals with joyful and colourful processions, conveying to the whole multi-faith community, something of what they personally believe in and why it is important to them."

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Extreme - Everything Under the Sun Part 1 (Rise 'n Shine).