Yesterday was Easter. Easter is a holiday that I have usually not given the attention that it deserves. I usually do something, but often it’s kind of last minute and not planned out very well.
Well this year I was determined to do better. I mean, I give Christmas a ton of attention. And yes, Christmas is important. But Easter is quite possibly even more important. The most important holiday of the entire year.
We did some activities throughout the week to learn about Christ’s last week – the events, also through the eyes of people that where there with Him.
This morning, we woke up early and all gathered in the kitchen to have a “sunrise devotional.” Celebrating the Risen Son during the rising of the sun. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and rainy so we couldn’t actually see the sunrise. But we talked about how the rain is a symbol of Christ as well because he washes away our sins and pains and weaknesses.
We read John 20 and sang a couple of songs (when I am Baptized (because of the rain) and He is Risen). I bore my testimony and then we said a prayer.
I’m excited to continue this tradition in the coming years. Hopefully next year we will actually get to see the sunrise. 🙂
For dinner, we had a special Passover + Christ’s time period dinner… similar to our Christmas Eve dinner. We made a seder plate for Passover that had lamb, romaine lettuce (the bitter herb), a hard boiled egg, salt water, parsley, Charoset (apples, walnuts, cinnamon, grape juice, and honey) and matzah.
This was our first time ever doing a Passover Seder, and even though we know the passover story from the Bible, I’ll admit we don’t know a lot about the Jewish celebration of Passover. I would like to learn more about it.
We also had Mediterranean flat bread, olives, figs, hummus with vegetables, crackers, cheese, dried apricots, pistachios, and resurrection rolls.
We dressed up (mostly just head coverings), and sat on the floor to eat.
We listened to Passover music and had our oil lamps lit for extra light (even though it was light outside). These oil lamps were just mason jars with cotton rope as wicks and olive oil (the kids earned drops off oil throughout the week for doing good things).
We talked about the symbolism of the foods and deliverance (the children of Israel, and also how we are delivered today through Christ.)
I loved making Easter more special and meaningful this year. :). I am excited to add to these traditions in the future.
