Churches in Garo Hills to live stream Palm Sunday service to lakhs of faithful

TURA: The holy week in the Christian calendar begins on Sunday, as Christian faithful in their thousands prepare to celebrate Palm Sunday to commemorate the biblical event when Lord Jesus Christ triumphantly entered the holy city of Jerusalem for the last time before his crucifixion on the cross.
This religious event is marked with church services all across Garo Hills with thousands of faithful taking part with the symbolic waving of palm leaves and offering prayers to remember this historical event.
However, there will be no such religious gathering in churches in view of the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of the COVID-19 in the country.
This is, perhaps, the first time in the history of the church that the holy week, beginning from Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, will be observed with prayers at home due to the outbreak of disease.
There is good news though, as churches across the region have made elaborate arrangements to live stream the Palm Sunday service to lakhs of people.
The Catholic Church in the Garo Hills has given a clarion call to the faithful to commemorate the religious event by placing palm leaves or branches of either palm, date, or any other leaf outside of their doors to mark the holy occasion.
Auxiliary Bishop of Tura, Fr. CJ Jose told The Shillong Times that Palm Sunday service would be telecast live on social media through facebook and youtube.
One of the churches in Tura, the St. Luke Church at Holy Cross will be live telecasting the service on WVM Tura youtube channel at 10 am Sunday.
The oldest church in Tura, Tura Baptist Church, will also be live steaming the service to the faithful across Garo Hills and beyond.
The Garo service at 10:30 am by Rev Wetterfield R Marak will be live streamed on facebook account while the English worship service by speaker Rev. Nicky N Sangma at 3 pm will be available for viewers to see on facebook page TBC English Worship Service and the TBC BYF (5 pm) with Pastor Akim A B Sangma on their facebook page Tura Baptist Church Youth Fellowship on the same day.