He Is Risen #7- Easter Sunday
We have a lot of traditions in this one day, but I love each of them SO much. It's so refreshing to take the day and just be excited about Jesus beating death and the precious gift that is to those of us He calls His own!
Here's our day:
1) I get everyone up before the sun rises and we go watch it together. Our old home was blocks from the beach. That was our favorite spot, but last year we watched from our hotel room window.
-Getting up to go is not easy, but it's so exciting to cheer and clap and sing HE IS RISEN as the sun rises. As the boys get older, we're adding a little more (Andy reading the Word, Jimmy picking a song to praise God to, me praying, etc...) I'm praying it's a sweet family worship service we enjoy for years to come. What a beautiful gift from God.
2) We race home to see if Jesus is still in the tomb we made. I decorate the table and it's fun to look for Jesus who is no longer in the tomb, but has risen again (and is hidden in the room somewhere for the kids to find)
3) We go to church and celebrate with our church family. There's nothing more exciting to me than singing praise and hearing the gospel preached passionately with others who delight in Christ. Last year, we were visiting a church (our current church is in this family of churches) and we laughed, sang, and cried right with them. We felt so knit together in Christ even with these "strangers".
4) We come home and do our Resurrection Egg Hunt.
5) Then, we have a basket exchange: We talk about Christ's gift of salvation and how He died for the ungodly. We're the ungodly. We share how we are ALL sinners and do not measure up to God's standard of perfection and we need forgiveness (just like the empty basket, our lives our empty, alone, separate from our Creator), but God didn't leave us alone in our sin. His Son died for us and then beat death! And now, those who are His can live a full/abundant life (like an overflowing basket filled with good things) forever because of His payment for our sin.
Then we exchange Jimmy's empty egg basket for this new basket that's FULL!!!! We show through the baskets how God pursues us. Even when we don't see our own "empty basket", He does. And He takes it and gives us a new, overflowing basket (heart/life) when we trust Christ for the forgiveness of our sin. So we get to leave our sin that leads to death (empty basket) for his gift of heaven (the abundantly overflowing basket).
Here's our day:
1) I get everyone up before the sun rises and we go watch it together. Our old home was blocks from the beach. That was our favorite spot, but last year we watched from our hotel room window.
2) We race home to see if Jesus is still in the tomb we made. I decorate the table and it's fun to look for Jesus who is no longer in the tomb, but has risen again (and is hidden in the room somewhere for the kids to find)
3) We go to church and celebrate with our church family. There's nothing more exciting to me than singing praise and hearing the gospel preached passionately with others who delight in Christ. Last year, we were visiting a church (our current church is in this family of churches) and we laughed, sang, and cried right with them. We felt so knit together in Christ even with these "strangers".
4) We come home and do our Resurrection Egg Hunt.
5) Then, we have a basket exchange: We talk about Christ's gift of salvation and how He died for the ungodly. We're the ungodly. We share how we are ALL sinners and do not measure up to God's standard of perfection and we need forgiveness (just like the empty basket, our lives our empty, alone, separate from our Creator), but God didn't leave us alone in our sin. His Son died for us and then beat death! And now, those who are His can live a full/abundant life (like an overflowing basket filled with good things) forever because of His payment for our sin.
Then we exchange Jimmy's empty egg basket for this new basket that's FULL!!!! We show through the baskets how God pursues us. Even when we don't see our own "empty basket", He does. And He takes it and gives us a new, overflowing basket (heart/life) when we trust Christ for the forgiveness of our sin. So we get to leave our sin that leads to death (empty basket) for his gift of heaven (the abundantly overflowing basket).
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| enjoying the fun books and toys from his basket |
Jimmy is always PUMPED at the "abundant life" basket. We've had great conversations about ways we try to "fill" our baskets (lives) and how it never really works, but God totally took away our empty hearts and made them new to want to love Him, delight in Him, and even obey Him!
6) We feast! We celebrate Christ's death and resurrection and the incredible promise of life that is for those who believe. We enjoy time together and good food. It's a fantastic way to end a great day in Him together.
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| Easter meal at Papaw and Gigi's- yum! |
7) Sometimes we watch Easter movies in the evening together. We often play with the goodies from the Eater basket and enjoy time together. This year we will light ALL the candles for our "Lenton Lights" reading (which were snuffed out as a countdown to Jesus death on Good Friday) and celebrate that the "Light of the World" beat death, has risen to heaven, is seated at the right hand of God risen and will come again to reign forever!
On Easter we celebrate that Jesus beat death. We remember that His death paid for the sins of those who were His. We thank Him and seek Him. We praise God. And we press forward into Him as we wait for Him to return and reign forever!
On Easter we celebrate that Jesus beat death. We remember that His death paid for the sins of those who were His. We thank Him and seek Him. We praise God. And we press forward into Him as we wait for Him to return and reign forever!
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