The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Dec 5th- A few of my favorite things...

~The amazing discovery of a sweet set of farm animals that have been in the ground for over 100 years

~The satisfying journey of gently cleaning off layers of the clay soil it once was buried in

~The astonishment of revealing that the original paint that survived all these years

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Dec 4th- A few of my favorite things...

~Brown mailer packages not tied up with strings

~The Awesome Socks logo that has birds with wings

~Cute little piggies around a campfire ring

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Dec 3rd- A few of my favorite things...

~The potential in one candle

~The light driving away the darkness

~The First Sunday of Advent reminding of us of Hope in this season

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Dec 2nd- A few of my favorite things...

~An antique candelabra from Christmases past

~New beeswax candles ready to shine

~An Advent Wreath ready for the morrow

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Dec 1st- A few of my favorite things...

~ A wreath on the old countinghouse door

~A snowman who has come inside to warm up

~Christmas coming to Hanover Square

Passion Week: Easter Monday

Activity: Gather up paper and the art supplies you love the best 

to secretly make a card for someone you love. 

Now find a place to leave it that will surprise them like their pillow, lunchbox, or work bag. 

Now wait for them to discover it 
(you've already learned waiting isn't so bad).
 Wasn't it fun to give someone a smile 

and tell them how much you love them 

without even being in the room?

On this last day of Holy Week, Easter Monday, 
let's take time to remember our journey over the past several days.

 In fact, some of Jesus' disciples did the same thing, except instead of just reviewing them among themselves, they had Jesus to talk it over with them. 

But the fun twist to this story is that they didn't recognize Jesus. They had heard Jesus had risen from the dead, but they weren't expecting Him. They didn't know what to believe. So Jesus helped them understand.

Jesus used the books of Law and the Prophets in the Old Testament 
to once again explain all that had happened.

 It foretold that the Messiah would come, be born as a baby in Bethlehem, 

that He would suffer and die for our sins, 

and that He would come to life again on the third day. 

As this mysterious Traveler continued on the road to Emmaus, 

things began to make more sense to these disciples. 

Maybe Jesus was the Messiah. 

They offered the Traveler the hospitality 

of staying at their house and having dinner. 

It was almost sunset, and the Traveler agreed.

 

Then at dinner, as the Traveler took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it---everything suddenly all made sense. 

The Traveler with them was Jesus! HE WAS ALIVE! 

Then Jesus just disappeared right in front of them! They finally understood who this was that had been teaching them and why Scriptures all made sense now: it was because of Jesus. Jesus wanted his disciples to know that God had left a “love note” for them all throughout the Bible that told of His plan and how much He loved mankind---so much in fact that He sent His Son to die for our sins. 

This love note was in plain sight all along, but the disciples had missed it! But now, they left their dinner and ran back to Jerusalem to tell Eleven Disciples gathered there that they, too, had seen the Risen Lord. That He had explained all these events that had happened. But they were honest, they said they did not recognize Him. We often don't recognize either because, like the disciples, we're not looking for Him. But how did they finally recognize Him? It was in the breaking of the bread. Jesus said “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) 

How do we recognize Him today? 

In His Word! 

He has left it as His love note 

to us as we can't see Him right now. 

We need to read it and live it out in our lives. 

And why do we need to do this? 

Like the Nard that started this Holy Week, 

when we have been in His presence 

by worship,

 prayer,

 and His word, 

we will have that “scent” 

of being with Him 

that people are drawn to. 

That scent will make others 

want to know what makes your life so different...

and then, you can tell them. 😊

Passion Week: Easter Morning

 Activity: with your parent's permission, take a rock, preferably round if you can find one. 

On one side, write “Matthew 28:6”.  Above that, write “Come” and below that write “See”. 

On the other side of the rock, write “Matthew 28:7”. 
Above that, write “Go” and  below that write “Tell”. 

Now you have something you can hold 

to remind you of the Good News of Easter: 

The stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty! 

Jesus had risen just as He said! 

But that is only part of the story of this Very Best Morning...

Another earthquake, the ground shook, the stone rolled away on its own! The soldiers guarding the tomb fainted! This was NOT what they had expected!

The women quickly dressed and headed toward the garden tomb just as twilight began to fill the skies. Stars still hung above them in the sky. Cygnus the Swan, the shape of the Cross loomed high above them. The One who made the stars seemed to be reminding them of the past days awful events. 

They carried with them their jars of spices to prepare Jesus body properly. They figured maybe they could ask one of the soldiers or the gardener to roll away the stone to make things right. As more light began to fill the sky, the cross overhead began to fade as the sun began to rise.

 As they reached the garden they couldn't believe their eyes: 

THE STONE WAS ALREADY ROLLED AWAY! 

They ran inside the tomb...Jesus' body wasn't there---the tomb was EMPTY! Then two angels appeared to them and asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen!”(Luke 24: 5-6) and then they told the women “COME and SEE the place where He lay. Then GO and TELL His disciples.” (Matthew 28:6-7). These women now had a new mission! They were to see for themselves what God had done, and go and tell others the Good News: Jesus was alive, just as He said. The power of sin and death and been broken. Ours sins could be forgiven! Jesus was alive! 

And then, just so that no one would doubt, 

Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene.

 She was the first to see the risen Lord.

They ran back to tell the disciples. Peter and John went to the tomb to see. There was no mistaking it...the tomb was empty! John believed (John 20:8). Peter wasn't so sure. 

The rest of disciples did not know what to believe. (Luke 24: 9-12).  But later that evening Jesus just appeared in the room with all the disciples except Thomas (Luke 20:19-23). 

Now ten of his disciples had seen Him alive! One week later so Thomas wouldn't be left out, He appeared to Thomas too (Luke 20:24-29. Thomas could touch Jesus. He wasn't a ghost.

 He was the Risen Lord.

 JESUS WAS ALIVE JUST AS HE HAD SAID!

So as you hold your rock, 

remember there are two parts or sides to Easter. 
It's not just enough to COME and SEE the empty tomb 
and know that Jesus is alive, 

you have to do the other side. 

Just like the angel commanded the women that day, 

you have to GO and TELL the GOOD NEWS as well. 

HAPPY EASTER! 

Come and See!

Now, Go and Tell!

Passion Week: Holy Saturday

Activity: To do this activity you will need a yellow onion with its skin on and a HARD boiled egg (or however many you you'd like to make) to start off with. With your parent's permission and help, place a pan half filled with water on the stove, and watch the water boil.

...and wait...

and wait...

and wait...

and wait...

and oh look it's finally boiling. 

While a watched pot eventually does boil. 

It does seem hard waiting and watching for it to boil. 

Now place in some onion skins. 

If you have yellow onions you're about to see why they are called that! 

Let the skins simmer for a few minutes then gently place in the previously HARD boiled eggs. Stir gently and without much waiting, carefully lift one out with a slotted spoon...look!...

you have a golden egg. Want to make it shiny? Spray a tiny spray of cooking spray on the shell and use a paper towel. From stinky yellow onion skins you yellow dye for eggs that makes them beautiful.

Waiting is hard, very hard sometimes. And when things look bad, it can be even harder. Once the women and the couple of Jesus' disciples helped put Jesus body in the tomb, it was nearly sundown on the Sabbath. This was the FIRST DAY Jesus was dead. They had to wait until Sunday to go back to the tomb for when the Sabbath was over it would be dark and no one wants to go to a cemetery at night. They had to wait to bury Jesus properly. So when the Sabbath began, this was the SECOND DAY that Jesus was dead. 

On top of all of this, officials pleaded with Pilate to “... give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” (Matthew 27:64) And so a seal was placed on the tomb guards had been placed there. All they had to do was wait until day four. If his body disappeared after that, Jesus had not kept His word. But to the women waiting on the Sabbath day, they must have thought among themselves just how they were going to prepare Jesus' body. It wouldn't be an easy task. Then sorrow would wash over them. Grief. Jesus was gone, dead...this couldn't be happening...and more crying...John probably gave Jesus mother a hug. It would be alright. He would care for her as Jesus had told him to...and more planning would continue among them.

Now for the guards, this was an easy job. Dead men don't run. They don't try to escape. Guarding a tomb against those rag-tag followers of Jesus, only one of whom was brave enough to show up at his execution. 

And they really only need to be here for four days or so to help stop rumors from spreading. Dead men stay dead. This was going to be a long wait for them. At least they had each other for company while waiting in the cemetery all day and night. Yep, this was going to be a long wait, but and easy job.

But God's plan was already in motion. Like the eggs being turned golden from something seemingly awful, God was about to take something awful and turn it into something wonderful: He was going to fulfill His word! The sun went down on the Sabbath and the THIRD DAY began. That's how the Jewish people count their days, from sundown to sundown. Quietly, while everyone waited, the third day had begun. No one seemed to notice. The women went to bed to get up early to go to the garden tomb to set things right. But as the moments slowly passed by...The countdown had begun...sunrise or SON RISE was coming....