Today was Palm Sunday, of course. Someone acquired a whole bunch of palm fronds, which we laid around the sanctuary and stuck in chairs. When we sang “Hosanna,” we invited (or drafted) people to come join the worship team in waving the palms in the air, and people throughout the pews also waving them. This was especially cool during the more crowded second service. As I stood at the keyboard, I looked at my camera sitting on the front pew, and wished I could pick it up and snap a shot or two. But alas, I couldn’t.

But during our closing song, Chris Kuntz, our worship leader, invited people to wave the palms again as we sang “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” (the contemporary, Maranatha version). I dropped out during the second verse to grab my camera and snapped a half-dozen photos. Some turned out nice.

It was just cool to watch. Real cool.

I muffed “All Hail” during the first service. The song has a key change after the bridge, as you go into the third verse. But I started the song in the ending key. The guitarists, of course, recognized it. Tim was standing right in front of me. As we sang the first verse, I said to Tim “I started in the wrong key,” and he nodded. I looked at Terry, the other guitarist, standing on the other side of the sanctuary. He just rolled his eyes.

As we entered the bridge, I muttered to Tim, “Here comes a train wreck.” Because I had no idea what key this was supposed to transition into. Fortunately Chris, who until now I didn’t realize had perfect pitch, realized we were singing in the wrong key, and he didn’t make a key change. As the song concluded, I wiped my brow. “Phew! Disaster averted!”