Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth, reply, Alleluia!
Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!
Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!
Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Foll’wing our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
Hello All,
I hope you had a Blessed Easter and Holy week! We enjoyed the company of Mike’s parents from Wednesday through Monday over Easter Sunday. They are great helpers and came ready to serve us through painting and installing trim. They also loaned us a powerwasher too. So we were able to install more window and door trim, clean our decks, and get our trailer primed painted and road ready!
After all that work ,we spent a relaxing Easter Sunday enjoying the deck in the amazingly lovely spring weather we had.
Doesn’t everything look YUM!
However, we have decided that in the future we will not do home projects during Holy week, unless we have no other choice, since it really distracts from one’s opportunities to reflect and engage on remembering Christ’s death and resurrection.
We had spent Lent, praying three days a week as a family and then three days a week in the morning with neighbors utilizing Shane Claiborne’s Book of Common Prayer daily readings. We each had selected something to fast from as a remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice, and I had selected sweets (this is the first time I had fasted from sweets and I found out how often I reached for a desert to reward myself- that was a revelation, I didn’t know I did that)
On Good Friday, we had an afternoon neighborhood clean up. It was fun and now the alley behind our homes looks a lot more loved. Afterward, as a treat, my neighbor Katrina took a van load of kids to ice cream and then a Stations of the Cross art exhibit at the Open Door church nearby. Sophia called me from the exhibit and told me to get ready to go, because I needed to see it. So when the kids all got back home, she and I went alone to see it together. She wanted to look at it and discuss it together. I found the quiet 20 minutes we spent some of the most directly connected to Christ that I had experienced that whole week.
Easter Sunday we enjoyed a tremendous service and I am glad we had planned on resting so we could enjoy each other’s company.
I am so glad that God accepts what we give, while always drawing us “further up and and further in” ( to quote C.S. Lewis). It is a joy to know that we can grow and learn from our mistakes, that God does not give up on us and our fumblings. I had stood at the stations of the cross, at the point of Christ’s flogging, overwhelmed by a desire to yell at Jesus, “Why did you do this? Why did you bother? I don’t deserve this! Stop! Stop it!” But He did do it, I couldn’t stop Him, It’s done.
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!
Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Foll’wing our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Amen, Friends, Amen.
<ox>< Nicole
p.s. I had the chance to see a dear friend today, Emily H. Emily is wife to Dan, and mother to three adorable children they used to live on Rippey and we have known them many years. Please pray for her, they discovered that she has melanoma in two moles on her shoulder and they are expanding the biopsy to better assess the situation. Emily’s little ones are about 5,2, and brand new. Our prayers are for a complete diagnosis and plan of treatment and that they will have gotten everything already.