Donkey, choirs to enliven Palm Sunday celebration

A beloved custom more than 20 years old at Central Union Church — involving a donkey coming down the main aisle of the sanctuary and a procession of singing children — will be re-enacted once again for Palm Sunday.

"It’s a fun tradition; everyone loves to see children and a donkey. It’s always been a very winsome little donkey," said the Rev. Nancy Lockwood, the church’s associate minister. Children will wave palm branches to recall the way Jesus’ followers welcomed him as their savior into Jerusalem, "to remind us that, like children, we should receive the message with childlike eyes and open to possibility," Lockwood said.

The service will begin at 9 a.m. April 1 and will feature several choirs, including the Hono­lulu Boy Choir, said the Rev. David Y. Hirano, new interim senior minister.

"Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week in Christian churches," which memorializes the events leading to Christ’s death on the cross seven days later, Hirano said. "It marks the day when Jesus comes into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Followers waved palm branches that symbolized triumph and victory.

"But those who waved the palms were looking for a different kind of messiah than Jesus was. Instead of a warrior, Jesus came as a humble servant on the back of a humble donkey. Instead of conquering nations, Jesus came to conquer the hearts and minds of people, reminding them that God’s love is for everyone," Hirano said.

Central Union’s tradition of using live animals for its Christmas Nativity scene, positioned along its lengthy driveway, started more than 25 years ago. It led to the idea of having a donkey star in its Palm Sunday procession a few years later in the late 1980s, said Joan Bennett, a former church member who ran Central Union’s thrift shop.

"I loved it. It was quite something," said Bennett, who served as chief donkey handler. "All the children waving the palm branches. They loved it when the donkey would pee or poop. Oh, the kids went hysterical. Some of the ‘metal muffins’ — that’s what I call the poop — would roll under the pews where the little old ladies would usually sit, and they would scream. I had to crawl under the pews to get them. It happened every year."

Bennett, who started attending a church closer to her Kailua home several years ago, said the donkey and other animals for Christmas were loaned by her close friend and animal lover Kent Girard, the late, well-known kumu hula.

"We wanted to share the excitement in our hearts, the joy of sharing a simple animal. People would get tears running down their cheeks. People really felt the impact, the significance of this simple donkey. Kent Girard was the heart behind all this; he loved to share his animals. It made him cry to see people being happy when they saw and petted the animals."

Bennett said the legend behind the sign of the cross found on the backs of most donkeys "is kind of bone-chilling if you’re a Christian." Various websites recount a legend that begins with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a young donkey. A week later the same donkey watched Jesus dragging his cross and wished he could help him carry the burden. After Jesus died, according to legend, the shadow of the cross fell across the donkey’s back and shoulders, where it remained as a tribute to the loyalty and love of the humblest of creatures.