I enjoyed it...

I wanted to do something different this Easter.
Easter hymns and music are always great. "Up From The Grave He Arose", "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", "I Know That My Redeemer Lives", "He Lives", all are songs of easter that are forever etched in my memory of church and easter. The flowers, the new clothes, the ladies and girls in hats, and of course the Easter Sunrise service. All part of the pieces of Easters past. None of these memories is bad, I would not change them. I just wanted to add new rituals and new memories of Easters in the future.

At this time The Carpenter's Shop is not set up well for music. We meet in a local eatery... a bar and grill to be exact. We meet together, share our week, pray, talk, sometimes I teach, but mostly we are together as followers of Jesus and a spiritual family. Music has been tough the last few years, but God does not need our ego boost.

This past Easter Sunday was bitter cold in NC. In years past we have had Sunrise Service here on the farm where my family lives...we bagged it this year. One less Sunrise Service will not change the fact that the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive. Besides, I wanted to do something different.

I wanted to eat a meal with my friends and celebrate that Jesus is alive. Most of my best memories revolve around food, family, friends and food. You think about it. How many of your bestest memories include food? I believe it is because God created the enjoyment of good food to be linked with building strong relationships, with Him and with others. Eating together should be a sacred ritual of our churches today. Paul gives us a picture of "The Lord's Table" or Communion as being a feast of ALL the believers in Corinth, in 1st Corinthians. The feast was to celebrate the risen Christ and remember Him.

We met on Sunday morning at 11:30am. We had a meal together. We had a place set with one of the gorgeous communion sets in the picture. The chalice full of wine the plate full of a hand made loaf of rustic bread. We celebrated the end of our individual Lenten fasts. We talked of the sacrifice and how our lives had been changed by the time. We than took communion, big hunks of bread and cups full of wine. The cups we brought with us from home. They needed to have significance to each participant. The cup was to represent ALL that we have. All that we have has been redeemed by the resurrected Lord. We where there together, just like we are,
the bumps, the bruises, the victories, the failures, the good, the bad and the ugly, standing together with a hunk of bread and a cup of wine. ALL we are has been changed by the resurrection.

As far as I am concerned, it was a great Easter.