Palm Branches and Shared Pathways: Interchurch Families and the Call of Palm Sunday

Melanie Carroll • April 12, 2025

Palm Branches and Shared Pathways: Interchurch Families and the Call of Palm Sunday

As Lent draws toward its culmination, Palm Sunday arrives not with quiet reflection but with an outpouring of joy, tension, and paradox. It is the moment when Jesus enters Jerusalem and is greeted with palm branches, cloaks on the ground, and cries of “Hosanna!” It is a day of welcome—and a day of uncertainty, as the shadow of Holy Week looms.

For interchurch families, Palm Sunday can feel particularly resonant. This moment, so rich in symbolism, offers a lens through which to reflect on what it means to be welcomed, recognised, and accompanied. And perhaps more importantly, it raises the question: how do our churches receive one another—and us?

Palm Sunday speaks into this directly. The crowds who welcomed Jesus that day didn’t know the full story. They didn’t fully understand who he was or what he would do—but they still laid down their branches. They still shouted their welcome.

In the context of interchurch families, we often find ourselves walking a similar kind of path: not everything is fully understood, not every theological nuance is resolved, but love is laid down like palm branches. Mutual respect, hospitality, and even courageous vulnerability are the signs of our shared procession.

Our families embody something of Palm Sunday’s paradox. We are both welcomed and questioned. We experience joy and tension. We walk in celebration and in lament. Yet always we walk together. The journey of interchurch family life is itself a witness that unity is possible not only in the future but here and now, even if imperfectly.

What might it look like, then, for our churches to be more like those who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem—not waiting for perfect understanding, but open-hearted and brave in their hospitality?

Palm Sunday reminds us that receptivity is not passive. It is an act of courage. To receive another tradition, another family expression of faith, is to risk being changed, being challenged—and being blessed.

So as we move into Holy Week, perhaps Palm Sunday calls our churches to practice this kind of courageous welcome—not just to Jesus, but to one another. Not just in symbolic gestures, but in sacramental and structural recognition. To lay down more than palms—to lay down assumptions, fears, and barriers.

And for us, as interchurch families, Palm Sunday offers a glimpse of the journey we are already walking: branches in hand, grace in tension, hope in motion.

MJCarroll -Executive Officer of the Association of Interchurch Families.

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Happy New Year! January —The Courage to Begin Again

By Melanie Carroll • January 1, 2026

JANUARY — The Courage to Begin Again January is a month often framed by fresh starts, renewed hopes, and the desire to step into the year with intention. For many interchurch families, however, the idea of “beginning again” is not simply about turning the page on a calendar; it is a rhythm woven into their very way of life. Interchurch families live at the intersection of traditions, expectations, and identities. As a result, the courage to begin again is not seasonal — it is habitual. Yet January gives us an opportunity to name that courage, honour it, and recognise the spiritual depth it carries. Beginning again may be as practical as shifting Sunday worship patterns because a child’s schedule has changed, or as emotional as revisiting conversations about belonging that have long been sources of tension. It may involve addressing unresolved experiences from last year — a moment when a priest or minister misunderstood your family dynamic, or when extended family expressed opinions about your choices to raise your children in both traditions. For some, beginning again may be choosing to return to church life after a season of being stretched thin or feeling spiritually exhausted. The idea of “courage” can sound dramatic, but for interchurch families it is often quiet, steady, and almost unnoticed. It is the courage of showing up in a church that is yours but not fully yours. It is the courage of continuing to pray for unity when you feel the strain of disunity most sharply. It is the courage of teaching children that they are not divided but doubly enriched, even when the world struggles to understand that reality. January invites us to reflect on the difference between courage as a moment and courage as a practice. A single moment of bravery can be powerful, but interchurch life asks for something more: a patient, ongoing willingness to step forward, again and again, even when the way is uncertain. Beginning again in this context is not naïve optimism; it is a spiritual discipline rooted in hope. For many interchurch families, hope is what sustains the courage to begin again. Hope that the churches we love will continue to grow closer. Hope that our children will be able to live out their faith identities freely and fully. Hope that our own callings — lay or ordained, formal or informal — will be recognised and supported in both of our traditions. January reminds us that these hopes need tending, and tending requires courage. Scripturally, we often turn to passages that speak of new beginnings — “Behold, I am doing a new thing” or “His mercies are new every morning.” But for interchurch families, it may be equally valuable to reflect on the stories where God’s people must take small, faithful steps into uncertain territory. Abraham setting out “not knowing where he was going.” Peter stepping onto the water with trembling confidence. The disciples returning again to the upper room to pray and wait when they did not know what God would do next. These moments resonate deeply with interchurch experience. Beginning again is not about control; it is about trust. It is about trusting God with your family’s decisions, your children’s spirituality, and your own dual belonging. It is about trusting that unity is not only a prayer but a promise — one that will unfold over time, even if we do not yet see the full picture. January also encourages us to reflect on the internal dimension of beginning again. Many interchurch families carry memories of past experiences — some beautiful, some painful. The courage to begin again includes the courage to forgive, to heal, to remain open. Unity in the home requires unity of heart, and unity of heart requires the bravery to keep loving generously across difference. Perhaps you find yourself this January feeling hopeful, or perhaps tired. Perhaps you are longing for clarity about church commitments, or simply grateful for the stability your family has found. Whatever this year begins with for you, hear this blessing: Your courage is seen. Your hope is holy. Your faithfulness is part of the very story of Christian unity that the whole Church longs for. As we enter 2026, may you find the gentle strength to begin again — not because January demands it, but because God is already ahead of you on the path, welcoming you into the year with grace. Melanie Carroll - Executive Officer

A Christmas & New Year Prayer

By Melanie Carroll • January 1, 2026

Eternal God, at Christmas we give you thanks for the gift of your Son, born among us to bring light into the world and to draw all people into your reconciling love. As the Association of Interchurch Families, we come before you as those who live daily across Christian traditions, seeking to hold together faith, family, and unity in Christ. We give thanks for the churches and friends who walk alongside us, support us, and share in this calling. At this turning of the year, we pray that the light of Christ, first seen in the manger, may continue to shape our shared life. Grant to your Church and all people a generosity of spirit, patience in difference, and a deepened commitment to the unity we share through birth and baptism. As one year ends and another begins, renew our common resolve to listen well, to learn from lived experience, and to bear faithful witness together to the truth that unity in Christ does not require uniformity, but is grounded in Love. May the joy and hope of Christmas remain with us in the year ahead, strengthening our partnerships, guiding our discernment, and drawing us ever more deeply into your peace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Word made flesh, the light of the world, now and for ever. Amen.