Holiday Celebrations

Growing up, our family did holidays big. Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween ... we had fun. The relatives got together and we would giggle with our cousins till the dreaded "Kids it's time to go," would be shouted by the parents. The memories I have of those celebrations are wonderful. Birthday cakes decorated by my mother. Bountiful feasts for the holidays. Decorations everywhere. They were happy times. When I met Brad, his family celebrated holidays a little differently. Since his immediate family lived away from grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, the celebrations weren't nearly as big, unless they made the trip to Wisconsin to be with them.

Consequently when Brad and I married, we were joining two very different ways of celebrating together. Like Brad's family, we lived far from our extended families, so unless we traveled to Iowa or Pennsylvania (or they traveled here), our holidays became personal affairs, oftentimes including church families in celebrations. We celebrated many Thanksgivings and Easters at parties described as "for families without families." Our Christmas Caroling Campfire has included anyone and everyone (neighbors, church friends, co-workers, co-volunteers) who wanted to celebrate the newborn Christ. We never took our costumed kids to trick-or-treat at their grandparents on Halloween because they didn't live near by. July 4th was always with friends usually swimming in someone's pool then off to the fireworks. Brad and I never forgot to celebrate our anniversary and Valentine's Day in a special and romantic way. And birthdays are a big deal ... all about the person celebrating. With our kids we had birthday parties every single year as they were growing up (lake parties, quinceanera, sweet sixteen, scavenger hunts, water slides, pinatas, princess parties, sports themes). I wanted our family celebrations to be as big and wonderful as I remembered mine as a child. And I think, with our church families and friends, we accomplished that.

I am a big proponent of making memories ... every day if possible (Brad says I need it on a T-shirt: "Make A Memory"). So getting together with family and friends to celebrate is a big part of that. Each holiday only comes around once each year, so I believe in really enjoying each one. Brad wasn't as crazy about big celebrations except on Thanksgiving (let's face it - feast and football, what's not to love?), but, bless him, he not only put up with my big shebangs, but even planned a few (15th Anniversary Surprise Wedding Vow Renewal, anyone? Or 49th birthday Beach Surprise with the kids?).

You couples are coming from different background and traditions with how you celebrate. You may have different foods you eat, ways you open gifts, ways of decorating, specific things you participate in, special days of doing things and meshing those together can sometimes be tricky. But they can be unique to you and so much fun. We encourage you to do two things:

1. Remember it is about you both and your family first. What works for you as a couple and for your future children is what you need to focus on.
2. Respect one another's memories. Find ways to combine things you both love about your family memories. For example, Daddy's family opened Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. My family did Christmas morning. The compromise ... Christmas Eve our children opened one gift (typically Christmas jammies) and the rest on Christmas morn.

Have fun on the holidays you have ahead. Celebrate with joy. Truly understand the meaning behind the faith holidays in celebrating. You will have days ahead filled with jobs, challenges, responsibilities and the like, so making sure to find ways to observe yearly festivities will give you things to look forward to and memories to last your lifetime.

Discussion: Share how your family celebrated each holiday and birthdays? What are similar about your celebrations? What are different? What would you like to incorporate from each way of celebrating?

Prayer: Father, we thank You that we have so many opportunities to celebrate! And we're especially thankful for the holidays that celebrate You! Lord we pray we can create new ways of celebrating with one another while keeping many of our traditions from our individual families. In Jesus we pray, Amen.

A Wedding For The Ages

It's the greatest wedding in history. All the faithful have gathered to attend. This wedding has been anticipated for thousands of years. The bride is adorned, "clothed with fine linen, bright and pure" (Rev. 19:8). The groom - a King - is marrying the bride He has loved with everything He has ... even His life (Eph 5:25). The bride is the church - the faithful who believe Christ is the Son of God, sent to die for their sins, who rose again. The betrothal took place the moment Christ hung on the cross and rose again. The wedding will take place when He returns to gather us all to Him. "Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." (Rev. 19:7) It will be the wedding for the ages. All will rejoice in this marriage. "Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out. 'Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.'" (Rev. 19:7)

That's what today is all about ... knowing that we, the betrothed, have that beautiful marriage to look forward to. It was on this day nearly 2,000 years ago, that Christ got on one knee and proposed, asking, "Do you believe?" "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life."  Our response according to Paul in the book of Romans 10:9: "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." 

Jesus is Lord! He is risen! I do! I do believe!

It is the greatest "I do" you can ever say.

Ayla and Kayla (and now my sweet niece, Lindsey) have all said "yes" to their fiances. The "I do" will take place for all six of you within the next 17 months. What rejoicing will take place! So when you are standing there before one another, pledging to love "as long as you both shall live," know what gravity is placed on that vow. Because Christ has made the same vow. Your earthly marriage is truly a symbol of what the greatest marriage of all will be. So honor it. Cherish it. Delight in it. Work for it. Proclaim the beauty in it. Be faithful to it. Share the joy of it. Let what you do on your wedding day and throughout your marriage be an example of the bright and pure wedding yet to come of the Lamb and His bride.

As the lyrics of Holy (Wedding Day) by The City Harmonic say:

This is the story of the Son of God
Hanging on the cross for me
But it ends with a bride and groom
And a wedding by a glassy sea
O death where is your sting
Cause I'll be there singing
Holy Holy Holy
Is the Lord

This is the story of a bride in white
Waiting on her wedding day
Anticipation welling up inside
While the groom is crowned as king
O death where is your sting
Cause we'll be there singing
Holy Holy Holy is the Lord

Holy Holy Holy Holy Holy Holy
Is the Lord Almighty
Holy Holy Holy Holy Holy Holy
Is the Lord Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
Who was and is and is to come

Praise to the King of Kings! We adore You! Holy, Holy, Holy! Praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever! (Rev. 5:13) Καλή ημέρα του γάμου! (Happy Wedding Day - in Greek, the language of the book of Revelation and nearly all the New Testament). And Happy Easter! He is risen indeed!

Discussion: How important is the comparison of your wedding to that of Christ and the Church to you? Have you answered the question, "Do you believe?" giving yourself over to the Bridegroom?

Prayer: Glory to you Father God, who loves us so! How blessed we are to be so loved! Thank you for your mercy, patience, grace and perfect Son, Jesus Christ! We rejoice with all the angels in Heaven and proclaim the great mystery of faith, "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." We praise you in Jesus's name, Amen.

Dyeing to Christ

These three are now all engaged.

Today I will be dyeing hard boiled eggs. Normally I do this on Palm Sunday, just as I have done for years and years. I enjoy this little tradition as a way to kick off Holy Week. I did it as a child with my family. I did it as a mother with Ayla and Anton. However, this year, I waited until today at Anton and Kayla's request because they want to participate. When I protested wanting to dye them last Sunday, I believe Anton's exact words were, "You'd rather dye them alone then with your son and his future wife!?" Case closed. The Paas was put away for six days.

I love to dye eggs. I love to get as many different colors of the tablets as possible. I love to draw secret designs and messages in the clear wax crayon before dunking them with the copper wire holder into the vinegar solution. I love checking them to see if they are dark enough. I love experimenting by using several colors. Then I lament a bit when there aren't any eggs left to dye. So I started a new tradition where I pull out some white cardstock so I can paint note cards with leftover egg dye. It makes the experience last longer and Daddy gets to smell vinegary drying cards all over the kitchen floor which make for excellent hand-designed correspondence throughout the year.

There will be egg hunts this day and tomorrow all over town in celebration of Easter, a name adopted from a pagan Spring celebration of various fertility goddesses like the Anglo-Saxon Ostera or Eostre or Babylonians Ishtar. The eggs were a symbol of fertility as was the frequently reproducing rabbit. So Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny aren't remotely Christian, but you'll see churches everywhere hosting egg events nonetheless. This is the reason why some churches refer to the celebration of the risen Christ is Resurrection Sunday verses Easter, even though the term has now become synonymous with it. 

While neither bunnies nor eggs - nor chocolate, baskets or peeps - have anything to do with what we're truly celebrating tomorrow, they certainly make for a fun time and if utilized to points hearts to Christ, we're cool with it. 

We decorate our houses big in green and red to celebrate the birth of Christ with Christmas trees, lights, wreaths, presents and mistletoe, so why not go all out in pastels, eggs, bunnies, chicks, baskets - and yes, bunny villages, Bradley - to celebrate His resurrection? As long as our hearts and minds are focused on the true reason for the season, have fun dyeing.

Discusson: Do you like to dye Easter eggs? What do you think of the symbols used during this holiday? What are ways you can remember what Easter is truly about?

Prayer: Lord this week has been all about you. We thank you for how you decorate Spring with beautiful flowers, and we glorify you for it. We mostly thank you for Christ in who's name we pray. Amen.