Easter weekend - rejoice, he is risen!

Good Friday, April 7, 2023

Supper is a mash of leftovers in soup (delicious - broth, pesto gnocchi, chicken, etc.) Veronica has sent over some fresh bread - so we grill some cheese on it and slice her tomatoes on top. Fit for a king. Or at least W likes it!

Sometimes the prettiest flowers are the wild seeds. These remind me of candy canes.

Down the lane, someone has erected a tent for a celebration. With the permission of the neighborhood council, entire lanes or streets get blocked off this way for weddings, funerals, and other milestones.

As the day draws to a close, I reflect on this Lenten season. It's been a day-to-day meditation on our faith in Christ and the confidence that God has drawn us near to himself in his Son.

"There is no other name on earth whereby we may be saved," said one of the scripture writers (Acts 4:12). The security of knowing God and being known by him is wonderful. That's what Easter is all about, the highlight of the Christian calendar.

Saturday

It's a rough night's sleep so I miss my morning walk. We stroll around the corner to a friend's for a brief hello.

We're dropping off some fun Easter gifts from Miss Ruth.

Each contains a painted wooden egg, gold-wrapped chocolate eggs, and a chicken planter. Cutest thing ever! I seldom see ivy here so that will definitely go into the ground when it outgrows its planter. I submerge it in water to get the teeny-tiny ants out of the soil.

Before a visit with David and Georgina, I stroll around the garden to feed the fish in the various pots. In 2016, the garden started with a tree, pots kicked off the porch, and a garden hose laid in gentle curves. The yardman cut the grass away at the porch and buried the plants in the soil. (Wow, look at all those pots! No wonder we had no room for people on the porch.)

Slowly, the plants started to take hold (2017).

Now we beat them back weekly. There's alway something always in bloom. Today there are purple orchids, red geraniums, pink daisies, yellow somethings (like marigolds, but 9' / 3 meters tall), plus leaves that range from yellow to green to scarlet.

I've committed to cooking curried sausages and a vat of spaghetti for the Easter potluck. It's too early to start cooking in the afternoon. I'll cook when I wake up at night.

Roaming around between projects, I spot an unfinished painting, initially planned as a cave with water reflections. I'm not good enough to make the shapes and paint bend to my imagination. Sometimes a background changes from it's original intention. If I'm totally confused, I take a picture of it and mark it up digitally to find the main lines and what it wants to become instead. That's not a good line.

How about turning it upside down and trying again? This is better somehow. But the landscape changes. Could it be a house near a pond? A colored forest by a lake? A centered face, looking left with pursed lips and a cut-out neck?

Wow - do you see the many options? I'm not certain enough to touch it yet. After I see the face, I can't "un-see" it. It would require few lines and be easiest to paint, that's for sure. I'll keep looking, but that face finds me every time I check in. I hate to waste the water reflection though.

Meanwhile, the hall is being readied for tomorrow. Tables are borrowed and set up. W delivers our rattan plates with paper liners, plastic cups, and cutlery, plus recycling pails for the plastic and rattan. We have enough supplies on hand to feed over 100 people any time a crowd might come over. (I hate shopping for events;  I prefers to buy it on sale and keep it on hand for when stuff is needed = "to shop our storage.")

In the afternoon, the wind sweeps from the mountains and shakes the trees. The corrugated roofs rattle and the chimes ring. It makes me wonder how fearful the shifting of heaven and earth was, at the death and resurrection of Jesus. The thunder rolls across the valleys and past the house.

EASTER SUNDAY - HE IS RISEN INDEED!

I spend a few hours at night cooking for the potluck and then sleep another hour. A lot of last-minute things happen before the Gathering starts. W goes ito the hall an hour earlier, while I stay back to heat the food as close to time as possible. Then we wrap the hot pots in heavy towels.

W sends me a photo of the flowers at the hall: oh oh! I ordered 5 lily plants and was expecting to cover the garden pots in bright covers. Instead, we have 5 beautiful stems ... "may need some help," W writes.

Mama mia! I have 10 minutes before leaving. I find a vase, soak some oases, and take a sharp knife to our garden. Time to start chopping though there's no time to soak the flowers or ferns. I hope they last through the service.

It looks complete with the lilies, almost 3' tall (1 meter).

We've closed the gate and are on our way when we get a last-minute message from the organizers of the potluck. W runs backto the house for serving spoons, as per request. Where are the tablecloths to cover those plastic tabletops? Etc. It's a busy morning before the Gathering.

The seats fill up as we worship together.

The baptism afterward is an affirmation of faith in Christ and a joy for the whole community.

The potluck is delicious, thanks to Clau and Sayaka who organize it, the many hands that prepare the food, and those who serve it.

We thank God for his people. Easter offers the best reason to gather and celebrate our freedom as children of God. Who but God could think of a way to reconcile us to himself. He has accomplished what we never could do for for ourselves, through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. Thanks be to God!

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*Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heavengiven to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

Prayer: God, we admit we can't save ourselves with good works or perfect living. We believe that you love us, for you have provided the way back to yourself by taking our sins and failures on yourself. We commit to living for you, the way you ask us to. Help us to love others and do good in this world because of the love you have for us. In Jesus' name we ask this. Amen.