#LentABC : Part 2

 

Second half on my Lent Photo-A-Day challenge is up!

I was just in love with this promotion by our American Baptist!

 

Day 21: Shadow

Day 22: Emptiness

Day 23: Thirst

Day 24: Search

 

Day 25: Beloved

 

Day 26: Wise

 

Day 27: Confession

 

 Day 28: Mercy

Day 29: Forgiveness

Day 30: Cup

 

Day 31: Still

 

Day 32: Sorrow

 

Day 33: Transform

 

 Day 34: Prepare

 

Day 35: Truth

Day 36: Hope

 

Day 37: Solidarity

 

Day 38: Restore

 

Day 39: Believe

 

Day 40: Entrance

 

Day 41: Anoint

 

Day 42: Solitude

 

Day 43: Grief

 

Day 44: Meal

 

Day 45: Cross

 

Day 46: Wait

 

Day 47: Life

 

Céad Míle Fáilte

"A hundred thousand welcomes."

 

It is my second, or maybe my third, favorite holiday!

17 days in to March and I am finally posting- miracles happen!

I am super excited about everything that is getting ready to happen!

 

     Two weeks ago I wrapped up another class for CLI! (WOOT!) I loved that class- Youth and Young Adult Ministries! The entire class I could just feel God pushing me and saying "go do it Kelli!" So I took inspiration from class and put together a skit that my youth group is going to perform for Palm Sunday!!! It is called "We Want Barabbas" and it is Barabbas's point of view from Mark 15:6-15.

     I am super excited about it, but I have to tell you they certainly taught me a lot the past two weeks. Tonight we are meeting for the third time (ever!) and this will be our last rehearsal before Sunday. When I wrote the skit it broke my heart. My passion for God and writing really met in this skit. I was-still am- scared that it means more to me than the teens right now. I am accepting that that is ok. It is the way of it.

 

     Then tomorrow night we are all going to Winter Jam!!!! I am so kick-butt excited about it!

I will have a full review up asap!

 

Egg Hunt or God Hunt???

What would happen if you gave a child an empty Easter egg?

There would be no hiding from that child, that is for sure.

You find Easter eggs for the prize inside, right?

Is that the most I have to teach my son about Easter? It's about getting candy out of an egg?

 

That morning when they went to Christ's tomb and found it empty- that was our prize!

Granted, it is hard for me to get my four year old to realize that an empty egg is a good thing.
How can we teach them?! Is it by making the hype all about the eggs and candy?
Integration, lol. Things were originally created as ways to share God. Now what have they become? Ways to spend money and neglect God. We have to get back to integrating God into our lives. Isn't that what Sunday is about? An empty tomb that showed us God has not neglected us. An empty tomb that promises he will always be integrated in our lives.

Are we hunting eggs or God?

 

 

A Dark Day

 

     A couple of years ago I attended my first Good Friday service. Almost sounds bad to say, but I enjoyed it. It was very moving and emotional for me. Unfortunately it was the last one our town had, and I have not gotten the guts to go somewhere else for another one. If you have never been to a Good Friday service I strongly suggest you go to one. I was asked to participate by reading some scripture during the service. I was so excited!

 

     In typical noob-Christian fashion I "knew" Christ died on the cross for my sins. It wasn't until I was asked to stand in front of a bunch and people and read Mark 15:17-20 that I truly realized that He died because of me. Not just for me, but because of me. Now listen- we are not meant to live our lives with this guilt! Christ never intended our lives to be lived in indebtedness, but I do believe that it is important that as we grow in our relationship that we realize the importance of this.

"They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him."    -Mark 15:17-20

     It's not just that he was put to death by unimaginable pain, but he was mocked and made fun of. I could not stop myself from crying while trying to read this in front of everyone. It hurt. It still hurts. I look at others who don't realize the importance of this and I get upset. His death was not simple or quick.  To look up in the faces of those I assumed to be "mature" Christians and see that they never realized what He endured for us... all because of me... and because of you. How does that not make you want to change? Maybe I'm crazy, but it makes me want to prove that He didn't do it in vain.



Questionable Sanity

We all know that the most attended church day of the year is Easter Sunday...
     Does every Easter Sunday sermon have to be the same?

     I know- I know! The whole point of this Sunday is to celebrate Our Risen Savior. I am not putting that down. I am just questioning the fact that every church does roughly the same sermon on this day all over the world. This is the day that our church will be packed to standing room only, and we are repeating the same sermon that they have already heard every year.
     Like I said, I probably have very questionable sanity for bringing this up. Am I only one who has thought of this though? This is like the pivotal chance when the spotlight is on this moment and what we preach is what will hook these one-day-a-year'ers into coming next Sunday, and the Sunday after that. They come, some, mostly out of habit hoping that this year they will hear or experience something that will change them. I know the power of Christ changes people, and I am not neglecting that. Isn't there a way that we can present this in a "new" way, though. A way that is so "out of the box" that people are stunned into coming again? They go home questioning what they heard so they have to come back next Sunday to see if it was right. This coming Sunday is the day the whole church should be ready to "shock" the masses. That's what Jesus did after all. I want an Easter service that shocks me. Something that I "haven't heard before".
     Please direct all comments to my questionable sanity as a Christian below please.

*No, this was not a April Fool's, lol. I do think like this from time to time.

Palm Sunday

 

 

Put your palm frond in the air and wave it all around!

Here we are at the start of Holy week. Jesus is coming into town today,

and everybody is waiting for the King.

 

     When you were a child and got hurt what did you want to happen? Think on that for a minute. What do you remember happening when you were hurt (physically or emotionally), upset, or sick as child? Did your parents attack the boy who broke up with you? Did they publicly humiliate the kids who made fun of you? Did they sue the doctor when you got sick? No..... They loved you.

     They loved you and healed you; whether you were rocked, held, given a band-aid, soup, medicine, or sang to you. You needed love. You needed to be comforted and humanized.

 

     When Jesus came people were looking for a king; armor wearing-vengeance seeking-warrior king. They wanted someone to come in and put down all other nations and raise them to their glory and status. In today's language, they weren't going to be a third-world country. They were going to be the richest, strongest, and most desired nation of all. So what the hoo-ha was he doing on a donkey?!

     They expected a king, not The King. This man who rode into town on a donkey was going to overthrow the entire system and save everyone?  One man, woman, and child at a time. He saved them with love. When we have been wounded what do we truly seek? Not the smiting of a king, but the love and understanding of The King. Jesus brought people to him by acts of love, not shows of power. He refused the demons to speak because they knew who he was. He did not want people to come to him because of his relation, position, or any of that stuff. He wanted people to choose him out of love. He fulfilled the needs of the many, and what were their needs? Acceptance, to be humanized, to feel loved, and to be appreciated.

We all deep-down want the true love of someone who will lay down their life to save ours.

Some knew when Jesus rode into town on a donkey that he was their King.

 

     If Jesus was alive today, right this very moment, would he still be put to death? Would His words in today's world be any different than they were then? Would He be loving people, healing people, humanizing people, and railing against what is so wrong with our world?

 

You do understand that Jesus had a choice, right?

There came a moment when he had to decide:

If I continue doing this I will die. Or I can stop. Stop loving everybody, stop healing, stop telling people about God... and I can live.

Jesus chose to die to prove that he loves you above his own life.