easter

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Holidays Don’t All Stack Up Equally, Do They?

Not all holidays are equal; we all know that. Some are just a day long, while others are celebrated for an extended time. 

holidays don't all stack up equally do they

Easter is kind of an odd holiday. Today I was wondering why it is not like the other holidays we have during the year. We don’t do all the normal holiday things at Easter. 

No one strings little lights on the outside of their houses. You don’t see little white lights in the shape of crosses adorning eavestroughs.

There are no inflatable tombs with attached inflatable big, round stones on people’s front lawns. … At Halloween some people put tombstones on their lawns, but that’s a completely different thing.

At Easter no one cuts down a tree, takes it into their shop, planes the logs and cuts them into big beams. No one sets up a big, wooden cross in their living room. 

There are no presents under that cross for weeks before Easter. No one anticipates opening those presents when the holiday arrives. 

There is no big lead up to Easter, like there is something to look forward to. Every year Easter seems to come upon us suddenly. It’s not usually something that is on our minds. 

Easter really is an odd holiday when you think about it. We don’t give it the high profile some other holidays get.

There isn’t a special meal that’s associated with Easter. The obvious choice should be lamb, but lamb has never really caught on like turkey or chicken or steak. Sure, sales of lamb are up around Easter, but you are probably more likely to find families gathering around a meal featuring ham or turkey. 

Lamb is expensive and if not cooked just right … well, I’m not a big fan of it. 

Ham at Easter is a strange choice though, especially since the holiday originates from Israel. Ham is not exactly kosher!

Easter just doesn’t match up to the other holidays of the year. 

Maybe it’s because we have to look up the date every year on a calendar. With other holidays we know when they are, we’ve memorized the dates in our heads. But Easter, is it in March this year, or is it in April? Is it early or late? We have to get out the calendar to find out. Two months out we don’t know when Easter will fall. 

At least we know that it’s always a Friday and a Sunday. But that also makes it a different kind of holiday. There is a sad part of Easter and a happy part. What other holiday has us crying and laughing during the same time?

Easter really is an odd holiday … but, for Christians, it’s the most holy and important holiday of the year. 

I just don’t know why it doesn’t get more attention and love.

Here’s the thing: At Christmas we celebrate Christ’s birth, His coming into the world. That’s amazing and it should be something we celebrate. It shows us that God is thinking about us. But Easter, that’s when God really shows He loves us. Christmas would mean nothing to us without Easter. At Easter we celebrate that God loves us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place to pay for our sins. Easter really is the greatest and most joyous holiday of our year, every year. I hope you make it yours.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do to make Easter special? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Easter Present

I got a present for Easter this year. It was sitting on our doorstep.

We don’t usually exchange gifts at Easter, though this year Lily’s birthday did fall on Easter weekend, so she got some cards and a few gifts.

Traditionally we used to give our kids some chocolate Easter eggs when they were young – we’d even send them on a hunt to find them.  

The present at the front door, however, was an actual present with a card. It was hanging on our doorknob. But when I took a closer look in the bag, I realized it wasn’t an Easter present for me after all.  

The present was a Hulk action figure … I’m confident I haven’t taken up playing with toy dolls. 

There was a card in an envelope that gave a little more insight into the mystery of the present at our door. There was a name on the envelope, but we didn’t recognize it. 

Somehow, whoever delivered the present thought someone else lived in our house, or they made a mistake on the house. 

Since we’re the original owners of our home and have lived here for the last 23 years, I don’t think they were mistaken on who lived in this house.  

Our guess was that the present was delivered to the wrong address. 

In the process, I wondered who gives presents at Easter … I don’t mean some form of chocolate; I mean a present like you would get on your birthday. 

Then Lily and I remembered how busy the roads were earlier that day. The malls were packed with shoppers. 

We learned later through a Facebook post that Easter shopping is incredibly busy, rivalling that of Christmas. 

I was feeling a little like Sherlock Holmes as I began using my keen detective senses to deduce who this present belonged to.

I opened up my computer and typed the family name in the search line. I was not sure if I had the spelling correct because there was an “o” that could have been an “a”. 

I knew at once I was on to something when several suspects popped up immediately online, all from far away places through. … I can see someone going to the wrong house in a city, but it’s hard to believe someone missing the house by a whole country. 

I narrowed my search to my city and bingo, there it was: the name and address of the people this present belonged to. I knew immediately this was them because their house was one street over from ours. 

I surmised how the mistake had been made. Our two streets are next to each other and are both cul-de-sacs that look similar. 

And when I went to take the present over to the rightful owner, their house was the third house in on the left, just like ours.

A great mystery had been solved … but no Easter present for me … or was there?

Here’s the thing: We like gifts and look for any excuse to get them, but we already have a great gift at Easter. You see, at Christmas God hands us a present all wrapped up – it’s beautiful, it’s hopeful, our eyes are attracted to it. At Easter we get to open up the present. Christ comes out of the wrapping, having died for our sins, and then come alive. He’s our present. Take Him by faith and He is yours, and you are His forever more. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What did you give or get this Easter? Leave your comments below. 

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I’ve Got the After Easter Blues

I think I have the after Easter blues today, and I don’t really have any reason for it.

It’s not an unusual phenomenon to have after an emotional high, but it usually occurs when you are doing something out of the ordinary.

People who go to developing countries and help out in some way often experience the blues when they return home. The contrast of what we have here and what they don’t have there can be so shocking that their minds and emotions can’t deal with the contrast so they find themselves down with the blues for a while.

We get the blues when we’ve gone from an intense emotional state back to a normal state.

It’s like the way I get when I’ve eaten sugary food in the morning. I get a sugar spike and my body burns up that sugar really fast. Then it starts to beg for more. And when my body starts crying out “Feed me, Seymour” (a line from the play, “Little Shop of Horrors”), I get all weak, hot and sweaty. My body basically bottoms out.

It’s how we react when we come down from something that has been intense.

You wouldn’t think that Easter would be so intense an experience that it would cause the blues when it was all over, but somehow it did this year.

I’m not sure if it had something to do with the series of messages I did over Easter or not, but I’m still feeling a bit of a letdown just the same.

This year on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we looked at the difference the cross made to three different people.

We also had our annual meeting on Palm Sunday, which for me added a little intensity.

But probably the intensity culminated Easter weekend. For the Good Friday service I did a first person monologue as the Roman Centurion.

To prepare for the role, I had to put myself in the centurion’s shoes, requiring more emotion on my part than giving a regular message. I’m no actor but to make it effective, even in a little way I had to live the part.

Then Saturday night the Kingston Frontenacs battled for 6 periods of hockey (three overtime periods) to eliminate their opponents. It was a long and tension-filled game. I was wired when I got home from that.

I then had a very short turn-around before I preached my Easter message the next day on the third character.

When I think of it, I experienced a greater emotional output than usual this weekend, and now that it’s over, everything has just gone back to normal.

Well, maybe my system is not quite ready to return to normal yet … so I’m stuck in the blues for a day.

Here’s the thing: The reason I had such an emotional output this weekend is that in my messages we focussed on the greatest event for mankind. As amazing as creation was, and as powerful as the progress we humans have made, the fact that Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, so we could have a relationship with God, is nothing less than a close brush with death that was avoided. Christ died for us – that’s emotional – and if you have put your faith in him, then it’s an emotional high.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you recover from a huge emotional output? Leave your comments below.

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When The Conversation Is Out Of Your Control

Conversations usually flow from one topic to another at a gathering, but when the party is heavy on the testosterone you lose all control of the dialogue.

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That would be how I would describe our Easter dinner this year.

In my last post (read it here), I wrote about our plans for Easter dinner and said that in this post I would write about how it turned out.

Lily was sort of forced to buy a thirty pound turkey because that was the only size she could find at the grocery store. To save me from having to eat turkey for the next six months, she came up with a plan to invite some people who knew how to finish off a ton of food.

We invited two players from the Kingston Frontenacs hockey team, and two of our son Mike’s friends.

That gave us five guys 25 and under, myself, Lily and our daughter, Karlie. When it came to the food, Lily and Karlie didn’t stand a chance. And when it came to the conversation, the guys monopolized that too.

Easter is a time when our focus is on the resurrection of Christ, the price He paid for our sins and the amazing gift of a relationship with God that Christ offers us.

However, some of our company had just come back from an afternoon of riding quads on muddy trails, so naturally the boys needed to spend some time rehashing all the ups and downs of the episode.

Some of our conversation around the dinner table focussed on the more spectacular antics on the quads, getting stuck, who almost died on the outing and who made the biggest fool of themselves.

I’m not much into that sport; in fact, I’ve never ridden a quad before. I have, however, ridden my mountain bike on some pretty muddy trails, so I was all ears as we listened to the exchange among the guys. Voices and laughter seemed to get louder as the stories turned to the personal shortcomings of one and all.

At Easter dinner there is nothing wrong with diverting from the main theme of the day, but hey, we also had some hockey players with us who are right in the middle of the OHL playoffs.

Everyone wanted to know how they were feeling about the series and how they thought it would turn out. We analyzed the team and talked about old hockey stories that related.

Of course, on any hockey team there are some characters that stand out. And just like with the boys who went quading, there were moments in the conversation that focussed on some of the crazy antics that happen within a hockey club.

By the time dinner was over, there was a table full of stuffed people who barely had room for dessert.

Though we didn’t really talk about the Easter message – other than a quick explanation and saying grace – most of the guys felt like they’d been verbally crucified by the others over the course of the meal … not typical for an Easter dinner, but typical when you gather five young men around the same table and bring food into the mix.

Here’s the thing: When guys get talking the stories can become bigger and better. The biggest story in the history of the world, however, is the love God has shown us in sending His only Son to die on a cross so that you and I can have a relationship with Him. There is no bigger story!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you relate to the biggest story in history? Leave your comment below.

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The Turkey Was Meant To Be

Some things are meant to be. You don’t always know why at the time, but it makes sense later.

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For Easter dinner this year Lily decided to cook a turkey. She went out and bought a thirty pounder.

Some farmers try to plump up their turkeys before they get to market. I think Lily’s trying to plump up the family, but I’m not sure for what!

Thirty pounds of turkey split four ways … well, you do the math. I’d have to play a lot of hockey AND be on my rowing machine for a couple of weeks to get rid of all that extra weight that would be showing up on my scale each morning.

To be fair to Lily, she didn’t look for a thirty pound turkey; it’s all she could find in the store. She was forced into it.

Nevertheless, we needed to do something to cut down on that total turkey intake we were looking at on Easter Sunday.

We knew Karlie was coming home and would participate in the feast but probably to a minimal degree. Mike would also be home for Easter dinner, and that would mean lots of potatoes and gravy, too.

That left Lily and I to clean up the rest and I wasn’t looking forward to eating leftovers for the next month. I like turkey leftovers, but there is a limit to how long I really want to be eating them.

Lil also has this volunteer position as a chef for a major frozen food company that helps with leftovers. I believe it’s called “Lil’s kitchen creations.”

She’s been doing this for a year now. She cooks a large meal, more than we can eat, and then makes up single serving containers of the meal which she freezes and delivers to her mother, and sometimes Karlie and Mike.

Well, with a thirty pound turkey, that’s a lot of frozen meals, even if they are spread around to others.

Lil needed a plan for this meal and so she started thinking of who else she could invite. She did the smartest thing: she invited some young guys over.

There were a couple of Kingston Frontenac hockey players on the list. Young guys in their late teens are much like chocolate Easter bunnies: they are hollow inside, perfect for hiding a lot of turkey and stuffing.

… I remember the days when I could hide a lot of food. But those days are long gone. I need to get on my stationary bike for twenty minutes after a turkey dinner or else I’m looking at buying a new belt!

Lil figured that if she also invited Mike’s roommate and another of his friends, they would be able to do damage to the turkey. Guys in their mid twenties have had lots of practice putting away large volumes of food; they know where to put that stuff.

So we were all set. The distribution of thirty pounds of turkey was accounted for. … I’ll let you know in my next post how it all turned out (read it here).

Here’s the thing: You have to make the best of what you have. And when you have plenty, you need to spread it around. At Easter we have the greatest message there is: Jesus died for our sins so that we can be forgiven, and because He rose from the grave, we can have a relationship with God and heaven waiting for us. That’s a large meal that needs to be shared with others.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who can you share the message of Easter with? Leave your comment below.

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Keep Those Hot Cross Buns Coming

Today we dug into our last package of hot cross buns. I love those things and for many years they were only available in short supply right around Good Friday. Now they show up in grocery stores more often.

hot cross buns

That’s a good thing, because I could eat them all year long. Even though raisin bread is available in the stores throughout the year, it’s not the same as hot cross buns.

I’m not sure why they call them “hot” cross buns; we just pulled our last package out of the freezer. They weren’t hot, rather they were frozen rock solid.

But I guess they put “hot” in the name because that’s how you eat them. Have you every tried cold cross buns? They’re not that good; I wouldn’t eat them, or at least that many.

I don’t even like to pick off a loose raisin and eat it before it gets toasted. If a raisin falls off when I cut the bun in half, I stick that raisin back into the bun so I can savour the taste later when it’s hot.

I’m lucky to be eating hot cross buns a week or two after Easter. Back in the 1500’s, Queen Elizabeth I outlawed the sale of hot cross buns outside of Good Friday or Christmas.

The history behind them is that hot cross buns were a reminder of Jesus’ death on the cross. … I can’t say that every time I eat a hot cross bun I remember the cross of Christ. Maybe I should.

Maybe with all the availability of hot cross buns now, it has taken the symbolism away – we don’t even think of the cross.

I’m sure some people don’t even notice that the markings are supposed to be a cross.

The cross isn’t even their biggest feature anymore. The packages advertise “with extra raisins”. And that’s a real selling point for me – the more raisins the better.

The cross actually stirs up religious controversy. Some religious people think that they have become far too available, and have lost the meaning.

Some reformers dislike them, not because they don’t lend to their palette, but because they see them as more of a Catholic superstition.

Some people think they should take the cross off the buns year round and only put the cross on them when they are sold at Easter time.

Personally, I would eat them cross or no cross … they taste good. I don’t buy them because they have a cross on them, I just like them.

Now I’m sounding like Matthew McConaughey selling Lincolns in televisions ads. Only I’m pushing hot cross buns and not getting paid for it.

There’s got to be something wrong with that.

Here’s the thing: We shouldn’t need a cross on a bun to remind us of Christ’s death, especially at Easter time. We should remember Christ all year long. We should have a daily reminder that Christ is with us all day long. You could keep a symbol with you, but often with symbols, we get so used to seeing them, that we don’t really see them anymore. The best way I can think of is to, at the beginning of your day, take time with Christ. I read in a book once where a famous pastor would swing out of bed in such a way that his knees hit the floor first. So before he took one step in the day he took time to invite Christ into his day. It’s something to keep in mind.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you remember to invite Christ into your day? Leave your comment below.