We have been experiencing something we never would have heard of last year at this time: the birthday parade. People drive by the birthday celebrant’s house in a string of cars, honking, shouting, waving and holding up signs. The birthday celebrant feels the love without being physically touched and the whole neighborhood gets to know that it is someone’s special day.

The concept of a parade of praise for someone reminds me of what happened to Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. People stood at a distance and shouted, “Hosanna and hooray,” words of praise to Jesus, as he rode slowly by in the most basic mode of transport of the time: a donkey. Instead of waving signs, the people waved palm branches to the man of the hour. A palm branch sent the message: “You are a king, Jesus. You are our king.” When people put their cloaks on the ground, in front of Jesus, it was like writing in chalk on the sidewalks as people have been doing the last few months: “We are with you. We are in this together.”

The parade of Palm Sunday provides us with a template for how we should welcome our Lord Jesus into our midst during these trying times. We should rejoice in him. We should let our community know how special he is to us. We should make ourselves visible and present to him. With a cross, a sign or maybe a decorative flag waving in the wind, our homes should declare to anyone driving by: Jesus lives here and he is reborn in us every day. Alleluia and amen!