Monday, April 09, 2007

More of Christ this Easter


One of the things I've wanted to change is the way we celebrate Easter as a family. Christmas has cultural support which makes it easier, but Easter is more work. I always wondered growing up why my nominal friends got a "2nd Christmas" for Easter whereas, I--the "true believer"--got nothing but an extra sunrise service to go to! So it's been a chip I have on my shoulder for awhile. I also realize you got to plan it to happen if there's ever hope for it to become a meaningful tradition.

We went to CEFC this Sunday since some people we knew were getting baptized. It was nice to celebrate with our "home church" family here in LA. There were others who were also doing the same thing, like coming home for Christmas.

More significantly, Tammy missed out on Ambassador's Good Friday Tenebrae Service, due to her being the on-call therapist and getting a call just before we were to head out the door. When I got back, I decided we should have our own abbreviated Tenebrae service. I used the same symbolism of writing our personal confession of sin on magician's flash paper which we ignited in the "Christ" candle before snuffing it out. It's a cool effect; try it out sometime!

Next year, we're going to have a special Easter dinner...with hot cross buns!

Picture: Our "Easter lily" amaryllis this year...it's the 3rd time it's bloomed in 4 years, and it never blooms in Christmas anymore.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We also used flash paper for our worship unit - to signify the prayers of the saints rising up. With a big pile, it's a very great effect.