Song for Sunday: The Day of Resurrection!

Written by St. John of Damascus, a Greek church father, this ancient hymn joyfully describes the meaning of Easter. Enjoy it!

1 The day of resurrection!
Earth, tell it out abroad;
the passover of gladness,
the passover of God.
From death to life eternal,
from earth unto the sky,
our Christ hath brought us over,
with hymns of victory. 

2 Our hearts be pure from evil,
that we may see aright
the Lord in rays eternal
of resurrection light;
and listening to his accents,
may hear, so calm and plain,
his own "All hail!" and, hearing,
may raise the victor strain. 

3 Now let the heavens be joyful!
Let earth the song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph,
and all that is therein!
Let all things seen and unseen
their notes in gladness blend,
for Christ the Lord hath risen,
our joy that hath no end. 

            St, John of Damascus, Public Domain

A Blessed Resurrection Festival to all!!

Song for Sunday: Up from the Grave He Arose!

Alleluia, Christ is Risen

He is risen indeed. 

For this Easter Sunday, an older hymn with a dynamic tone. Sing the verses 

quietly, the first one almost gloomily, then sing the refrain vibrantly, with

joy. Remember that whatever problems we are facing, Christ is stronger. He beat 

death!

Up From the Grave He Arose

        Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior, 
 waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord! 

 Up from the grave he arose; 
 with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 
 he arose a victor from the dark domain, 
 and he lives forever, with his saints to reign. 
 He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

 Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior, 
 vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord! 
 

        Up from the grave he arose; 
 with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 
 he arose a victor from the dark domain, 
 and he lives forever, with his saints to reign. 
 He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

 Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior; 
 he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord! 

        Up from the grave he arose; 
 with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 
 he arose a victor from the dark domain, 
 and he lives forever, with his saints to reign. 
 He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!


                                          By Robert Lowry
                                          In the Public Domain


A video to enjoy: 














A joyous Resurrection Sunday

to you and yours!
















My fourth post for the April 2015 Ultimate Blog Challenge.
            

My Snow Banks Have Snow Banks

There is an awful lot of snow here in the northeastern US.






 The snow banks are over our heads.

Our lawn furniture is buried and our roofs carry so much weight that some have collapsed. (I raked the garage roof after this photo was taken -- but it's full again.

In fact, there is so much that some of us wonder if we'll ever see the ground again ... or at least if we'll see it before June. It feels like it will be a long hard road.. but summer will come sooner than we really expect.

And in the meantime there is beauty.. and sledding. 

Lent can seem like that, too. From this vantage point of the beginning this season of fasting and focusing on spiritual disciplines, of voluntary depriviation and self-evaluation feels like it will be long and dull. It can be a difficult time...and the deepest comes at the end, when we commemmorate Christ's death on the Cross.

But the joyous season of Easter will be here before we really expect it...

and in the meantime there is the beauty of a deepening relationship with Jesus and the wonder of increased maturity.

May your Lent be blessed and productive and may you grow closer to the one who sacrificed for you.

Song for Sunday: The Day of Resurrection

The day of resurrection!
Earth, tell it out abroad;
The Passover of gladness,
The Passover of God.
From death to life eternal,
From earth unto the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over
With hymns of victory.

Our hearts be pure from evil,
That we may see aright
The Lord in rays eternal
Of resurrection light;
And, list'ning to His accents,
May hear, so calm and plain,
His own "All hail!" and, hearing,
May raise the victor strain.

Now let the heav'ns be joyful!
Let earth her song begin!
The world resound in triumph,
And all that is therein;
Let all things seen and unseen
Their notes of gladness blend;
For Christ the Lord hath risen,
Our Joy that hath no end.

                                        ~John of Damascus, 8^th century; 

                                           translated by John M. Neale

Have a most blessed and joyous Easter!!!

*Photo by Jordan Parry

An Easter Bunny made of ....what?!

We have a neighbor who makes awesome snow sculptures. Spiderman, Superman, Santa... he even colors them sometimes. They are a lot of fun to look at and attract a lot of attention. They should. He spends a lot of time on them and they look great!


Currently, he has a very cute display up. Of the Easter bunny.  

Say what. Easter bunnies are supposed to made of grass and flowers when they aren't made of cotton and stuffed with foam.

There simply isn't supposed to be enough snow at Easter to build an Easter Bunny out of it. Not around here, anyway.

But there is. A combination of late storms and an early holiday. It seems weird, out of the ordinary, almost unnatural. Certainly, it's not the norm.







 You know, though, resurrection isn't exactly the norm either. It is definitely out of the ordinary. People don't die, get buried, stay buried for three days and come back to life. It just doesn't happen.

But it did.

Jesus died for our sins -- sacrificing himself so we could be part of God's kingdom, now and forever.  He conquered death and rose again, three days later.

Weird, but true.


Just like Easter Bunnies made of snow.

*Photos by Jordan Parry (who has become quite the entrepreneur. I had been giving him 25 cents per photo. He negotiated to get 50 cents from now on. *sigh* He's growing up. )

Shock, Horror......Christmas

Along with everyone else's, my heart breaks for the parents and families of those children and teachers in Newtown, Ct. I cannot fathom the depths of their grief. There is nothing to say to them that will make a difference. I am in prayer for them.

It's not the time, yet, for political talk of gun control and changes in policies. It's time to mourn.

The nation is shocked.

And it's Christmas time. That the tragedy happened in such close proximity to this favorite holiday of children seems to make the horror grow. Christmas is about a baby, The Baby, who came to save us. We see it as a gentle time of birth and joy.

In the middle of the Christmas story, though, is a scene we don't often reflect on. The census is over, the baby has been born in the stable, the shepherds have visited. Two years have passed, the family has moved into a house and the star has led the Wise Men to Jesus.

Those Wise Men stopped on the way and spoke to Herod, king of Judea, who on hearing of a newborn king, went into a jealous rage although at first he hid that well. He learned that the baby was in Bethlehem.

Then he sent soldiers to kill all of the baby boys under two years old in that town.

Just think what it would have been like to be the parents of one of those children. Scripture describes it as "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." Right from the beginning, because of the evil Herod, shock and horror were with us at Christmas.

Christmas is the incarnation. God came to a willing virgin and had a son. He took a human body, deigning to live among us, share our weakness, feel our temptation and avoid sin.

Look with me beyond Christmas to the Cross. Here Jesus feels the intense pain of bodily violence and the spiritual horror of separation from God. The Father feels what it is to lose a son. So God has been here, knowing the loss of His own flesh and blood, his own beloved Child. This is a grief He knows.

Ultimately, we go even further. Past the Cross, we find the Resurrection with it's triumphant victory over death and sin.

Right now, we are at Good Friday, in the midst of the horror, grief, pain. Easter may feel like a faint and distant hope, but it will come.





Lord, be with all affected by this horrible incident ... the victims, families, investigators. Bring hope, comfort and help. Guide our steps as a nation. In Jesus name, Amen.

Easter Blessing

Yesterday, we took a stranger home to dinner.

She had come to our church, choosing it at random, because she wanted to worship and happened to be visiting our town to see the lake. She was in need of prayer, because she had a recent diagnosis of cancer. It turned out she was a Messianic Jew. She was also alone for Easter, so we invited her home.


It's interesting how God prepares you for things. I served as the prayer partner yesterday and was the one to pray with this woman. My family has had recent experience with cancer so I was able to empathize with her diagnosis. I also have been in conversation with a friend who is a Messianic Jew over the last few days and having been learning more about Passover and Judaism. Plus, my husband, son and I were planning a relaxed dinner at home with just the three of us. We definitely had room at the table. And even though it was going to be "just us", I had insisted on cleaning up the house for the holiday so we were "guest ready."

Our new friend was very good company. She helped get the food ready, made interesting conversation and joined us in learning a new game that Jordan had gotten for Easter. What a blessing she was.


We aren't the type of family that takes strangers home. We have had people in unexpectedly for holidays before, but always people we knew. I'm glad we did it this time though and I hope we were as much a blessing to this lady as she was to us.


Have a great day!




"God places the lonely in families...." Psalm 68:6

Christ is Risen!

Yes!!

The tomb is empty.


The victory won.


Jesus is alive!!

There is no doubting that. But perhaps, in The Wasteland, T.S. Eliot was on to something. The first stanza is subtitled "The Burial of the Dead." Here are the opening lines:

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering 5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, 10
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie, 15
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

In the same way that April is the cruelest the month for those who feel no part of it, perhaps Easter is the most difficult holiday for Believers who grieve.

We hear a lot about Christmas being difficult for those who have suffered a loss. And with the constant family gatherings emphasizing the abscence of a loved, it is. But Easter, for the Christian, is meant to be a time of unalloyed Joy. We are celebrating the final victory over death.... but for some it doesn't yet feel like a victory. The grief is too new, too raw.

Still, whatever it feels like for anyone just now, that victory is real. Jesus was dead. He is alive. Those who believe in him live forever in His kingdom, from the moment they believe through all eternity. That can bring us a measure of comfort. More than a measure.

So is it OK for the grieving to join in fully with the celebrations of Easter? I say, yes, because we are celebrating a true thing that nothing can change. But it's also fine not to feel up to it. God knows our hearts, understands pain and loss. After all, He's been there.


May your Easter be blessed and may you find true Joy.