Posts Tagged ‘easter’

My Grandpa always told me that it wasn’t really a happy easter until Easter Day. I’m not so sure if I agree, because every day – throughout the year – is a Happy Easter because of what Jesus did almost two thousand years ago. But I still tend to think about my Grandpa when it comes to this, so today I’m going to say – with my broadest smile and warmest voice:

I wish you all a Blessed and Happy Easter Day!

HE IS RISEN! He is here.

Good Friday is a sad and dark day, in many ways. Jesus was sentenced to death. He suffered and he died. In Norway we let Jesus’ sufferings influence the name. We call it Long Friday. In earlier times it was a strange holiday day. Usually the goal of any other holiday was to do as little work as possible; this was a day of hard labor. They wanted to feel the pain in the body similar to Jesus’ suffering so many years before.

Now Good Friday is a quiet day, at least in the churches. Some places there are no music, most places the candle lights aren’t lit (or they might be blown out during the service). There are fewer words spoken, but the readings from the bible is longer than usual.

The day is sad and dark. But still there is some light. What happened, that Jesus died, makes the day filled with quiet joy and thanks because he died loving us all.

Good Friday tells me how much God loves us,
you and me – and every other person on earth (past, now and present).

It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t cheap to show of this love. But it set us free.
Talk about a Good Friday!

Read more about Good Friday in John 18:1-19:30.

God Bless You!

Yesterday my nephew cut a few (20ish) branches of pine for me.

Today I asked (very politely) the congregation to please come outside with me to start the service with a little Palm Sunday procession. We handed out the branches and our musician went in the front, together with MT and another kid. While swinging our branches we sang ‘Hosanna’ to Jesus and started our Palm Sunday part of the service (we went through all of the main days of Easter, I’ll get back to the rest of the days later…).

There is something with the things we do, it stays much longer with us than things we just hear or read. I wanted to give a tiny little feeling of being there by the gate of Jerusalem. Shouting out to the Lord with joy and laughter. Welcoming the king to our city.

Hosanna!

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

(John 12:12-13)

A good start to our Easter celebration
Wish you all a Blessed Sunday!

Every Easter Day since MT got baptized we have been celebrating the day with family and friends. This year was no exception and we invited our closest family to join us.

Photo from the baptism Easter Day 2006.

But first I had a little work to do, an Easter service up in the mountain. In a small, cozy church. I didn’t bring my camera, so I have sadly no photos to show. The service didn’t start before 3 pm so we had plenty of time to enjoy the morning and early day.

MT was happy to find some candy for him in the living room and thought it was a nice breakfast (ahem).

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