Easter
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moreweekends are for waiting
On Saturday, April 07 th, 2012For thinking on the lamb and the gift of that Door that will open wide at the end of the road of grace. : Waiting with you for Sunday morning, All’s grace because of Christ alone, : : Beauty for the Weekend : On this Saturday morning… pause here to consider that He Chose the Nails with Max...
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moreThe Shocking Theology of Good Friday
On Friday, April 06 th, 2012The children sleep on the eve of Good Friday and in a still house I pour blood down the drain. Scarlet drips from bowl’s edge and I’m struck with images of the cutting of a throat, pools and reek of of plasma, cells, platelets, and this appeal of peaceable vegetarianism. I rub the m...
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moreHow in this World Do You Find Joy? ……. {Holy Week: Part 4}
On Thursday, April 05 th, 2012In the middle of Passion Week, we work dirt. We pick stones off the field, haul off rocks to ready a seed bed. There are eggs in an incubator downstairs in a closet. The whole world is this ticking, waiting, readying thing, on the brink of something cosmic, on the brink of the Biggest Bang — that slamming hammer and the howl of God ringing to the stars. That’s what ...
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moreFiguring Out the Cross-Centered Life
On Wednesday, April 04 th, 2012{This is part of a series this week on preparing hearts for Easter. Part 1 of A Holy Week can be found here Part 2 of a Holy Week: A Family Activity for Passion Week can be found here} On the road to Calvary… two years ago this week… Life only emerges from black depths. And she’s a farmer’s daughter and she knows how new shoots come out of the dark earth and sh...
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more3 Bowls & a Crown of Thorns on Holy Week … {A Holy Week: Day 2}
On Tuesday, April 03 rd, 2012{This is part of a series this week on preparing hearts for Easter. Part 1 of A Holy Week can be found here} Dad always did that after the meat and potatoes, after the plates were cleared and stacked. He’d ask for a toothpick. Him in his plaid flannel shirt and Levi’s, looking for a bit of a tree to right everything again. That’s what he’d do before he l...
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moreIf You Want to Start Your Holy Week off Well {A Holy Week: Day 1}
On Monday, April 02 nd, 2012My Grandma, she told me if you found a man who’d weep over a story — that was a man you could marry. The morning of Palm Sunday, the porridge boils over and burns on the stove. Hope tries on three dresses, slumps into the kitchen and declares she has nothing to wear. Shalom can’t find her pink hair bow — only a blue one that’s missing the barrette....
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moreThe Best Easter Dinner {with a Free Printable} {Start a Christian Tradition: Messianic Seder}
On Wednesday, March 28 th, 2012I shouldn’t have been surprised when the questions came, all these questions rushing like a river searching…. God knew. He knew how all the kids would ask questions. : :: All the kids asking questions — wasn’t that the prophesy? “When your children ask their fathers in the time ...
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moreA Family Christian Activity for Easter ……. Make a Grace Garden {A Visual Parable}
On Friday, March 23 rd, 2012Back there in the beginning, we all fell in a garden. And Christ, He falls to the ground in the garden of Gethsemane. And He begins to right our fall. So the kids and I, we put our hands into dirt, and we remember our garden fall and His garden grace, and we make a Grace Garden for Easter. ...
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moreWhat to Do When You feel like a Loser…
On Wednesday, March 14 th, 2012It’s half way through Lent and forget that sign of of dust they brush on the center of your forehead. I’m bowed over the sink after a teenage daughter’s slammed out the backdoor. Slammed out of my ugly diatribe. And I’m thinking I need something more direct, right there on the middle of brow. Like the “L” sign. The one the Farmer frowns deep ...
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moreFree Easter Devotional Book to Make a Jesus Easter Tree
On Wednesday, February 22 nd, 2012I can’t seem to follow through in giving up for Lent. Which makes me want to just give up Lent. Which makes me question Who I am following. Which may precisely be the point of Lent. Last week, I’m standing on a table, snapping the shutter on a bouquet of roses, when by brother calls. Levi picks it up, his eyes twinkling, stars risen early. I can only h...
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moreHow Do We Really Treat Jesus?
On Wednesday, May 18 th, 2011In front of Mrs. Gillie’s entire grade six classroom, Kadie Miller* said I was butt-ugly. Did you pick out your own get-up today or did your butt-ugly mama dress you? Sandy Goetz* laughed. That afternoon when the bus doors cranked open and I was finally free, I ran up our gravel lane, and Lissa Turscott* slid down her bus window and whipped a baseball at me, smacking me ...
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morePractice Resurrection: Tomb-Centered Christianity?
On Wednesday, May 04 th, 2011We go to the woods to witness the rising. We have front row seats at the edge of the marsh. We wait. The dog splashes too loud. We wait longer. It’s true: It could be said that I don’t believe in the resurrection of Christ. We wait for the pond to open, for the frogs to rise, for the shining of wet backs, for the flash of eyes, the glinting gold, a...
