Is This How the Unchurched see Christians??

I've never understood the whole push to invite people to church on Easter or Christmas....to me the story of God's love relationship with us is so amazing, every Sunday is an amazing opportunity to share with others. But this video is funny!

Gratitude for the Cross

Let us turn from the story of the crucifixion, every time we read it, with hearts full of praise. 

Let us praise God for the confidence it gives us, as to the ground of our hope of pardon. 

Our sins may be many and great, but the payment made by our Great Substitute far outweighs them all. Let us praise God for the view it given us of the love of our Father in heaven. 

He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, 

will surely with Him give us all things. 

Not least, let us praise God for the view it gives us of the sympathy of Jesus with all His believing people. 

He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. 

He knows what suffering is. 

Jesus is just the Savior that an infirm body, with a weak heart, in an evil world, requires.

~ J.C. Ryle

Today I've been struck with a mental replay of what Christ endured for me, for the most unworthy.  What a paradox that is brings me to tears, yet leaves me with joy!

Creating Traditions to Celebrate Christ's Sacrifice

One of the things I enjoy doing for my children, is building meaningful traditions into our lives, and especially around holidays!  Over the years, our seasonal table has often been the focal point for moving us from winter to spring - from Christmas to Easter.  I've used a few books to give me a springboard of ideas such as All Year Round  by Anne Druitt... and Celebrating the Christian Year by Martha Zimmerman.  I have fond memories of previous years and dying strips of cloth and weaving baskets, felting eggs and lambs, knitting chicks & bunnies, making wet-on-wet painted crosses, trying to make a clay tomb for a beeswax caterpillar to change into a butterfly, and attempting in different years to grow grass in a basket to represent the new life we have in Christ. 

But this year, we changed our seasonal table a little to include some ideas taken from Holy Experience.  The first idea we added was about forgiveness.  On the cross, Jesus does the unimaginable....He asks God to forgive those that were mocking Him and hurting Him, even though He was innocent of everything.  It has been heavy on my heart this Lent season, how much I don't forgive others.  Every time my gaze has been caught by the bowl and steps of forgiveness, I've been reminded and convicted to change things.  In the bowl of dust, we've written the names of those we harbor anger towards and then wiped it smooth, from the dust and our hearts remembering the One who forgave us and continues to forgive us when we desire our will before His.

The second idea naturally built on the my previous attempts to create some kind of garden where the miracle of life over death could be represented.  I hunted through the house to find something in which to create our Resurrection Garden because I just couldn't bring myself to buy a new basket or planter for $20. After searching through our house, I found a container I thought would do and lined it with a kitty litter liner, filled it with soil and Maddie and Nate began eagerly arranging the garden!    They used one of the terra cotta containers as the tomb,

excitedly went scavaging in our woods for moss and helped me lay it down, then laid a path of stones leading to the tomb with tea lights lining it. 

Beginning on Palm Sunday we'll light one candle a day during our devotion times to represent Christ's light in our world,

then on Good Friday we'll blow them out one by one to represent how the light of world seemed to have been snuffed out on that day. 

Also on that day, we'll close up a beeswax caterpillar in the tomb and close the entrance with a rock. 

Darkness will reign over the garden until the morning of His resurrection - when the stone will be rolled away to reveal a beautiful butterfly!

Our seasonal table also has a crown of thorns created by the kids from the thorny bushes we have in our woods, felted eggs, and anything from nature that the kids bring in....right now there is an old oak leaf, a big stone Nate liked and some little stones Maddie liked, a piece of birch bark w/ moss, and the "brain" from a skunk cabbage..muhahaha!!!!

One more tradition I hope to start next year is having our own family Seder meal.  I never understood the connection between Christ the Lamb of God to the events in Egypt when I was a girl and I am so excited that my kids understand that so much better than I ever did!  This year we've been invited to join a small group of families in a joint Seder meal, so next year I should be comfortable to do it here and may even invite close friends from our community.  I will definately take my camera and blog about the experience!

Easter Memories

We had a beautiful Easter day! Started off with the kids hunting for their Easter baskets, which the Easter Bunny hid really well this year! Even stumped Ben & Zeke for a long time! Of course, they stuffed themselves on candy and they all have their favorites!

Nate loved the Spongebob Crabby Patties, Maddie loves Nerds and Laffy Taffy, Ben enjoys Reeses & his huge Kiss, Isaiah isn't particular as long as the main ingredient is chocolate, Jake enjoyed the Robin Eggs.

Then off to a nice church service where Jake and I played Love is Here together. Christ is Risen - He is Risen indeed!

We headed over to the Oesterles afterwards to have a family dinner, but much of the family was missing this year! Cheryl and Mark were on a cruise, Nichole was at her boyfriend's family dinner, and the Gorrells & Townsends came later. So those of us who enjoyed Mom's great cooking were stuffed and laughed a lot because of how my boys smother Craig! They just adore him, enjoy teasing him, laying on him, and egging him on to wrestle with them. They sandwiched all around him at the table and he is definately still their "captain" whether he likes it or not.

Mom and Dad prepared an egg hunt (outside the perimeter of Ebony's electric line of course) and our children so enjoy it! It definately is a race, with a few of the older kids still sneeking in and nabbing an egg or two.

Then off to the Sinnaeve's we went. Of course there was more eating involved and more candy! The cousins played out on Grandpa & Grandma's porch and giggled and giggled! I don't know what was so funny about the swing, but they couldn't stop laughing! We also played cards which is always a lot of fun! I think that is one thing I'm thankful for, that my kids are growing up having fun with their grandparents - they are always willing to include and play card games with them.Thank you God for the blessings of FAMILY!