We had a wonderful Easter! I hope you all did. Easter is my favorite holiday, next to Christmas. It's such a powerful time in history and for our faith. This year was especially wonderful. We had all the usual things: decorating Easter eggs, Easter egg hunts, a little bit of chocolate, new Easter dresses, etc. But this year we had an extra special blessing of becoming God-parents to our sweet Flannery Agnus Wood!
I loved going to mass (Episcopal) on the Saturday night before Easter . We started outside in the dark, representing the darkness of the tomb and of the womb. Once the Paschal candle was lit, everyone passed the light to each other before entering the sanctuary. The entire first half of the mass is in darkness only lit by the candles you're holding in your hands. During this time, among other things, we are led to renew our baptism (which is so cool, by the way!) This is also the time when new baptisms take place.
We had the great honor of standing next to Renee as Sammy baptized his daughter, Flannery, for his first baptism! (He was ordained as a priest in the Anglican church this past December) He was filled with emotion, as were we all, as he poured the water over her sweet little head. It was such a blessing, and honor, to be apart of this sacred ceremony.
(I'm leaving out a lot of really good stuff - this is just the reader's digest version:))
The second half (which looks like a normal mass) begins with a jolting, loud, and ominous sound from the organ - signifying the resurrection!! The lights come up and celebration begins! (this is where I think the charismatic choir should enter from the back, with tambourines and dancing in the isles, making their way up to the front and lead us all in a big sing along, celebrating and worshiping our risen Lord!!....but that's just me:))
It was so incredibly meaningful! I really enjoyed it! I hope we'll be able to do this every Easter.
By the way, Easter Saturday is the ONLY Saturday that we don't celebrate Sabbath - there is no rest, but sorrow and mourning. On Sunday, however, we celebrate Jesus as the Great Victor who conquered death! We make it a really big celebration!!! It's lots of fun! This is usually when we do our Seder meal, but because Easter is so much earlier this year (a month between Easter and Passover...?) we're going to have our Seder meal on Passover weekend. So we kind of get two Easters this year:)
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! He is risen! Hallelujah!!
4 comments:
This too is one of my favorite times of the year. I missed being with you all, but I am really enjoying seeing all the pics. You all looked fantastic. We went to mass last year and I remember it being an incredible night. I can't wait to meet Miss Flannery, she's got a big name to live up to. I am sure she will!
I had Easter on Ometepe Island in Lago de Nicaragua. We spent the day out on the beach, then that night we made a bonfire and sang songs of praise to our Risen Savior under the stars He created. It was fantastic. We certainly have a lot to celebrate don't we?! God is good all the time!
I love you all and I am looking forward to being back with you all soon.
You have a beautiful family! I see Gavin is growing his hair back? Your worship sounds very intentional and meaningful. I'm so thankful "we have a risen Savior", and that we are part of the body of Christ. Love you.
Kim
And, of course, we were delighted to have you stand w/ us and present little Miss Flandango for admission to the covenant community. Thank you, more than you can imagine.
:)
oh, what a gorgeous celebration!!!
You guys know how to throw a party when it comes time to celebrate God :)
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