We had a great Easter celebration this year. We stayed in town and went to our home church service. Then we met my parents and we had a picnic at a park with 2 girls from the youth group as well. The weather was great - nice and warm but not very humid.
Holidays are one area where I struggle with trying to make them truly about their meaning, instead of just cultural traditions. I think this will be something we especially need to be intentional about as Cambry gets older because we will be laying a foundation for how she views holidays. I think it will be hard to find a balance of including some of the fun secular traditions like egg hunts and baskets/gifts and also focusing on Jesus Christ's resurrection.
I was thinking I still have a few more years before Cambry is old enough to start understanding, but I need to also focus my own heart on the true meaning of Holidays now. So hard to do when Christmas is turned into a gift giving day and Easter is just about dressing up and dying eggs (which we did both and had fun!) and other fun spring time stuff.
This year our pastor challenged us to spend the week before Easter reading John 19. So I tried to do that as well as read the other gospel accounts of the crucifixion. I also focused a lot on Pilot. I think it is so interesting how he didn't agree or want to kill Jesus, but because he wanted to please the crowd he went against his better judgement. He didn't stand up for what he believed in (not that he believed Jesus was the savior, but he did believe he was innocent). How many times have I been like Pilot, wanting to please others, so I don't share my faith?
Anyway, there are a couple traditions I want to keep in mind to try when Cambry gets older. I got these from my friend Amy's blog. She is such a creative, God honoring mom!
First are resurrection rolls. These look so yummy and would be a fun way to have a visual representation of the resurrection.
(Photo from The-Girl-Who-Ate-Everything.com)
The marshmallow represents the body of Jesus
The melted butter represents the oil of embalming
The cinnamon sugar represents the spices used to annoint the body
The crescent roll represents the wrapping of Jesus's body
The oven represents the tomb
The empty middle represents the empty tomb/grave clothes
Amy also posted this link which has detailed instructions for a fun treasure hunt which goes through the crucifixion and resurrection.
Similarly, there are lots of sites/blogs that have instructions for resurrection eggs. So fun!
1 comment:
Last year, Cody's parents gave us the original Resurrection Eggs that I think were created by Family Life. They are great, and next year we will be able to do them with Kyler. We also have a tradition that I love that we started before Kyler came along and still do it. We have communion as a family Friday night. It's really special and fun to read some scriptures together and reflect on what Jesus was doing that Friday. There are also several fun Easter books for kids that tell the story. We really love Easter because working in ministry it is a holiday that we will probably always have to spend at home, so we are able to have our own traditions and enjoy it in our own home every year.
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