Significant Celebrating

Happy Easter, Everyone!!  And so begins my favorite week of each year.

• Palm Sunday (Marking Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.)
• Maundy Thursday (His last supper with his disciples)
• Good Friday (The day Christ gave His life in exchange for ours)
• Easter (RESURRECTION DAY!!)   

If you're a regular reader, you know that Frank and I are a bit extreme about significant holidays and the celebrating there of.  Mostly, because holidays serve as perfect teaching opportunities.

We used a fun video in service yesterday to explain Palm Sunday.  (The Skit Guys are our favorite.  They use humor to explain/teach/challenge the Church.)

This Wednesday, we'll share the traditional elements of the Passover Meal in place of regular bible study.  We have a minister who worships with a Jewish congregation coming to teach us all about the significance of each element.

On Friday, we'll have our first Tenebrae Service.  This is new for us; we just learned of it last year.  Tenebrae means "shadows."  This one hour service will be very somber; calling us to reflect on the sorrow that surely surrounded the death of Christ.

Please remember, the disciples were living the story in real time.  They hadn't read the ending.  They had No Idea that Resurrection Day was just around the corner.  The purpose of the Tenebrae Service is to help us identify with the depth of those emotions.

THEN (mental drum roll).................EASTER SUNDAY!!!

Frank, in full Biblical costume,  will be presenting a monologue as the disciple Peter.  I've willingly tolerated shaggy hair and a growing beard for several weeks now as he moves toward creating the characterization.  Wigs and fake beards just don't do the trick for him.

My favorite part of his presentation?  He'll sing a solo, "The Day He Wore My Crown."

Music was what first brought us together.  Frank has an amazing voice but he seldom ever does solos anymore.  I'm looking forward to hearing his rich baritone fill the rafters once again.

Our annual family sunrise service will morph yet again this year.  Six babies and two pregnant mommies means getting to one location all ready for church before the sun rises is a bit more challenging than it used to be.

So, at Nathan's suggestion, we're going techie.  We'll Skype!  Not quite sure how that's gonna work but we're gonna give it a try.

"Oh, Sheri!  Doesn't that make you sad?"  

Well, sure.  No change is comfortable at first.  But the important thing is that we're trying to make the connection and we're making Resurrection Day special for our young ones.  Easter is about an empty tomb.  A Risen Savior.  Hope for all people.  Not a chocolate bunny.

Traditions and breaking out of the mold impacts children.  We want desperately for Easter to be understood by them.

Before our Easter dinner, everyone will tell about a Resurrection Egg they'll find on their plate.  Special blessings will be read over each family.

Then comes the Egg Hunt in Noni and Papa's backyard!

At the writing of this post, I'm still not sure when Easter Dinner will actually take place.  We're looking at Saturday, Sunday and even Monday.  We're trying to co-ordinate multiple families, work schedules and the all important issue of - Nap Times!

The date is not as important as the doing.  I should have my own special song about flexibility.  :-)

Bottom line is this.  Easter is our most important day of celebration.  The message behind Easter is really quite simple:

• We're all broken.  
• We all need a Savior.  

Aren't you grateful for this wonderful season, too?  

I want to share another reason we're so big on Easter.  

In 1974, a teen-aged boy invited two of his friends to join him for church on Easter Sunday night.  The incentive was, they would all campout afterward.  So the boys went.  Both of his friends heard a clear Gospel message for the first time that night and accepted Christ as Savior.

One of those boys was my own dear husband!  Easter is Frank's spiritual birthday.

Most people are happy to go to church on Easter.  Be bold.  Don't go alone.  Pray this week and invite someone to join you.  You may be helping them toward the best decision of their lives, as well.

Happy Easter, Dear Friends!

(I'd love to hear about how you mark this wonderful holiday.  Your celebration ideas may spark a great new tradition for someone else.  Please share with us in the comment section.  Thanks!)