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....

Passion Week: Good Friday

Activity: With your parent's permission, get out some cocoa powder. Give it a sniff. Doesn't it smell good? 

Now put a teaspoon of the cocoa powder on a plate. With very clean hands, dip the tip of your finger into the powder and taste. Yuck! Not what you expected, is it? The same is true for vanilla. It smells delicious, but a tiny taste reveals it tastes awful by itself. 

However if you mix it together with other ingredients both taste good in the end. 

Try making Chocolate Mug Cake...it's delicious.

Like the awful taste of cocoa powder alone, have you ever had something happen not like you expected. You expected something great and...it was awful. 

That's what happened on Good Friday. While Jesus had told his disciples many times, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matthew 20:18-19), somehow Jesus' words didn't make any sense. After all, just a few day ago, the crowds welcomed Jesus as their King! Things were going well...until just after midnight on Friday.

While in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas came with with his own crowd. The same feet Jesus had washed hours ago, were now walking toward Him. And with a kiss, Judas betrayed Jesus, and He was arrested. This was not the plan. Kings don't get arrested. Jesus' friends had fled. Things got worse. The trials were unfair, His friends who could have spoken up for Him remained silent. But even then a presence filled the room. 

The nard from a few days ago would have slowly and gently begun to fill the space. They knew they were in Jesus' presence. They just didn't want to believe they were in God's. Then things got worse....

Pilate tried to bargain with a pressing mob. Pilate thought his bargain for Jesus' life over Barabbas was foolproof. He lost the bargain. And Jesus was condemned to die. 

For three hours Jesus hung on the cross. 

The scent of the nard and sweat would have been in the air around those who dared enough to come close. Even then he had a servant's heart. He asked for forgiveness for those who did this. He even gave hope to the repentant thief that he would be with Jesus in Paradise later, that death was not the end. And then, at about 3 o'clock, Jesus died. 

The One who was going to be their King was dead.

Strange things happened at that moment. And earthquake shook the land. The veil that separated the Most Holy Place was torn in two in a sickening ripping sound that echoed throughout the temple. The four inch thick curtain tore from the very top to the bottom all by itself, as if the dividing line between God and man had been erased in the sand. “Surely he was the Son of God!” the Centurion said. 

But Jesus was still dead. The soldiers proved it. They released his body to his mother and John and few of his followers to be buried. But they had to do it quick! Sundown for the Sabbath was only hours away and they had to be home by then. By then it would be dark anyways. What did it matter? There wasn't even time to put spices on his body for burial. 

But yet, as they wrapped him, the scent of the nard from nearly a week ago was still there. It would have to do. They wouldn't be able to come back until Sunday morning to do a proper job. They placed Jesus' body in a borrowed tomb and rolled the stone in place.

 Dead people don't rule. 

This was not how it was supposed to be.

Passion Week: Holy Thursday

Activity: With your parent's permission, ask your parent if you can help with the cleaning. Maybe you could wash the dishes, sweep the floors, vacuum the living room, or do a load of laundry and put it away. Do whatever they ask you to clean cheerfully and with a smile.

Cleaning, mopping, washing...all things we think that it is “someone else's” job to do. If we lived when people had servants or maids we might be tempted to leave all that work to them. But the reality is is chores are part of living in a household. From cooking to cleaning to fixing things, we each have a job to do...and how we do that job is what Jesus taught his disciples on this Thursday evening.

When they arrived for the meal, instead of waiting for the servant to clean their hands and feet before the meal as was custom, Jesus put a towel around His waist and went to work, washing the disciples feet. 

Jesus had already told them “The greatest among you will be your servant.” (Matt 23:11) Now He was demonstrating that: He was here to serve “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark10:45). 

So as he washed each disciples feet, even Judas', each got to spend time in his presence and learn this directly from Him. As he dipped his hands in the water, the nard on Jesus' skin would have lightly scented the water, carrying the scent of being with him.

Throughout the meal He reminded His disciples of that the things that were about to happen were all part of the the plan. Jesus, knowing he would die in less that a day's time was the servant thinking of others, encouraging his disciples, and praying for them. He had told them on the way to Jerusalem the plan: “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days He will rise.” (Mark 9:31). And after dinner, long after Judas had left to set the next day's events into motion, Jesus and the remaining disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. 

The scent of Jesus, 
the Servant Leader, 
among them lingered 
as the walked up the hill to the garden. 
Jesus was with them---they could tell it by the nard. 

This is what it means to be a true servant to others: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8

True leadership can only be found in serving others as Jesus showed. Remember: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”(Colossians 3:17). Maybe throughout the coming week and next you can find more ways to help and serve others. Whether it is doing something without being asked, doing something cheerfully after being asked, or even quietly helping someone else in a way that only other person who knows you did that is Jesus! Find ways to leave His Servant's scent in everything you do!