Happy Thanksgiving!

Easter's Over - Now What?

Many of us focus on the seven last sayings of Jesus during Holy Week .

Now, on this day after Easter, let’s look at what Jesus said after his resurrection.

Jesus’ parting words before His ascension are found in three of the four Gospels and in Acts 1. These messages, spoken nearly two centuries ago, still have meaning for us today.

COMFORT

When Mary Magdalene finds Jesus’ body is missing from the tomb, she is dismayed. Weeping in grief and uncertainty, Jesus had only to say her name to soothe her (John 20:11-18).

When Jesus appeared before His other disciples, who were “startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost,” He bid them peace (Luke 24:36, 37). He assured them His death proved He had authority over heaven and earth (v. 18), and that He would be with them forever (Matthew 28:20). Jesus pledged to them life-long comfort, in the person of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8), fulfilling a promise he had made earlier (John 14:16-18, 26; 16:7-15).

Like Mary and the disciples, we too desperately need consolation for our anxiety, confusion, and sorrow. This same risen Savior cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). We not only find solace in His words in Scripture (Romans 15:4), but also are strengthened by the Holy Spirit who remains active in every believer’s life (Romans 5:5).

COMMAND

Jesus issued only one directive before he ascended: The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19, 20). “Go,” He said, “make disciples…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8, Luke 24:48).

Jesus left us with a big task, one that is perhaps even a little scary and overwhelming. But when He gave the charge, He also supplied the power, again, through the Holy Spirit, through power from on high (Acts 1:8, Luke 24:49). And therein lies the…

CHALLENGE

A pair of Jesus’ followers journeyed to the village of Emmaus that resurrection day, conversing about the amazing events. Jesus approached and asked, “What are you discussing together as you walk?” (Luke 24:16, 17). They incredulously wondered aloud if this stranger (they were prevented from recognizing him) was the only one who hadn’t heard the news. “What things?” Jesus prodded them (vv. 18, 19).

The two travelers related their bewilderment about the astounding happenings, Jesus’ death and resurrection, and what they signified (v. 19-24). “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Jesus chided them. “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (v. 25). And he went on to explain it all to them (v. 27).

Later, as they ate, the pair had their eyes opened, and they recognized the Lord, only to have him vanish (vv. 30, 31). “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” they marveled to each other (v. 32).

Jesus also confronted the remaining 11 of his closest friends: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself!” (Luke 24:38, 39). He invited the skeptical Thomas to touch his hand and his side as further proof (John 20:27).

Seven of those men next saw Jesus at dawn by the Sea of Tiberias. “Do you love me?” Jesus asked Peter three times (John 21:15-17), perhaps to offset the disciple’s trio of denials of the previous week (John 18:16-17, 25-27). “Feed my lambs,” “Take care of my sheep,” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus countered over Peter’s protestations of love (John 21:15-17).

Then Peter learned how he was to die. Undoubtedly disturbed and upset, he gestured toward his fellow disciple John, and asked what his fate would be. “What is that to you?” Jesus rebuked him. “You follow me!” (vv. 21, 22).

Then Jesus’ followers had one final question before he left them: when are you going to make everything right here on earth (Acts 1:6)? “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority,” Jesus said, a reply that must have left the still-reeling believers even more puzzled.

Our challenges haven’t changed: we read Scripture, but don’t always know how to apply it; we struggle with doubt; we declare our love for the Lord and our fellow sheep, but fail to show it; we get distracted by what God’s doing in the lives of others to the detriment of our own walk with him; we want to know the whys and whens and hows, trying to take command of what rightfully belongs only to God.

Oh, that our hearts would burn like those two on the road to Emmaus! That we would “not see and yet believe” (John 20:29)! That we would “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles [and] run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1), instead of snaring ourselves in matters over which we have no control!

May these resurrection words stir us as they did the early church, so that  “with glad and sincere hearts” we too will “praise God and enjoy the favor of all the people” (Acts 2:46, 47).    

Comments welcome HERE...

 Penny Musco is a freelance writer with a terrific family—husband, daughter, mom, two brothers, and an assortment of in-laws, nieces and nephews. Her first passion is living for God as His child, redeemed from my “empty way of life…with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18, 19). A second is being with her family. Creating stories, whether fiction or non-fiction, is a third. And then there’s travel, especially to places where she can get up close and personal with the natural world. Trekking through the national parks is the best way she's found to combine all four. 

Penny blogs at Life Lessons From the National Parks. She can also be found at http://www.pennymusco.com and  http://www.steal-away.com

Easter Story Cookies

This past December, for the first time, I intentionally celebrated the Advent season with my children. In an attempt to have a more meaningful holiday, I followed along with Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands and participated in a daily devotional and craft with my little ones.

After seeing what a difference it made in the way my children viewed Christmas, I knew I wanted to do something special for Easter as well. 

My friend Jennifer introduced me to the Easter Story Cookies. This is a great activity to do with your kids while pointing to Christ and the reason we celebrate this holiday. 

You'll need:

• 1 cup whole pecans    
• 3 egg whites  
• wooden spoon   
• 1 cup sugar
• pinch salt      
• 1 tsp. vinegar      
• Ziploc bag    
• tape      
• Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees     

Place pecans in ziplock bag. Beat the bag with a wooden spoon to break the nuts into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.

Read John 9:1-3.

Open the vinegar and let each child smell it.  Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl.

Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.  

Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar.  

Explain that eggs represent life; Jesus gave His life to give us life. 

Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  

Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  

Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.

Add 1 cup sugar.  

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know we belong to Him.

Read Ps. 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  

Explain that the color white represents purity. In God's eyes, we are purified because our sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  

Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts.

Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper lined cookie sheet.  

Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.

Read Matt. 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.

Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.

Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.

Read Matt. 27:65-66.

GO TO BED!

Explain to your children that Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. They too may feel sad since they can't eat the cookies right away. They will need to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.

Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Point out the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow!

Explain that on the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  

Read Matt. 28:1-9

Download a printable copy of the Easter Story Cookie Recipe HERE.

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With a background as an interior designer Kimberly has is unique in her ability to be both creative and practical; now a stay-at-home mom she still enjoys exercising her creative muscles.  After God, her very active family is her top priority. Kimberly seeks to live a life that is spirit led with her husband Carl and their three young children in the NYC suburbs.

You can follow Kimberly in her journey to discovering the Sweet Spot of God’s success for her everyday life on her blog at Living in the Sweet Spot. or on twitter @kimberlyamici.Click here for her full bio.

Hearts for the Lord

Several years ago, the teaching director in a Community Bible Study I attended asked me to do an opening on Valentine’s Day.  Valentine’s Day is not always an easy day for many women, myself included.  Dashed hopes and disappointment can create an unpleasant countenance and attitude.  Envy toward those whose day has been brightened with chocolate, flowers and other delights can turn a day usually decorated in red to many long hours tainted a bitter green.  That day, I strove to lift the hearts of all women in attendance with verses affirming our Heavenly Father’s great love for us.  

 At that time, my two sons were still in school, one in middle school and one in high school.  Being a degreed (but not employed) early childhood teacher, I was known to put my creative teaching efforts into the lives of my family.  That Valentine’s morning, my husband and my sons were greeted by a joyful Valentine’s greeting, homemade placemats (heart fabric) with handcrafted heart-shaped napkins, homemade-with-love heart-shaped pancakes, a red-wrapped gift, and, candy---no kidding!  The sentiments, the cheerfulness, the gifting was not returned, however. 

My presentation to the women began with that true-to-life scenario, certain that many of the gals had experienced that same lack of gifting as well.

Possibly they allowed a spirit of disappointment, sadness, and even resentment to enter their hearts. 

In Jeremiah 17 we read that the Lord says, Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the Lord.  They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future.  Frankly, I have never lingered very long in an actual desert—fear of snakes and poisonous spiders and such.  But, I have dug a pit and clung to the sides of it in what the Bible, continuing in Jeremiah 17, calls a barren wilderness on the salty flats.  The influence of that well-known greeting card company and some very worldly wives, was like salt, creating in me a thirst for what those wives said they had in their marriages, what they said they had received.  Ecclesiastes 5:10 admonishes us that, Those who love money will never have enough.  How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness!  I wasn’t really thirsting for wealth, just one measly Valentine, and, maybe, one rose---with some baby’s breath and ribbon, and perhaps some candy and---you guessed it…happiness and contentment as defined by the things of this world.  But the Lord saw my troubles and cared about the anguish of my soul (Psalm 31:7).

Jeremiah continues by reminding us blessed are those whose trust is in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.  They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots deep into the water.  They are not bothered by the heat (aka those “What did you get for Valentine’s Day?” questions) or worried by long months of drought (drought as in no gifts).  Their leaves stay green (and not with envy) and they go right on producing delicious fruit (delicious fruit, made up of the fruit of the Spirit, of course!).

From Romans 5:5, We know how dearly God loves us, He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our lives with His love.

Sometimes that’s the only love that can get us through a day –God’s love, His love for us. 

Paul wrote what we could call a lovely Valentine to his beloved Ephesians, I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love (Ephesians 3:19). 

As we allow our roots to permeate that deeper ground, we can find sustenance from the love of Abba, Father and can even see what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1John 3:1).  We can be encouraged by how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father in a manner far surpassing anything we can experience on this earth from another human being.

Rather than anticipate February 14 with angst because we have to endure Valentine’s Day, let us delight in how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father.  Let us use our time that day not to dwell on what we didn’t receive but rather rejoice in what we have received---the sacrificial gift of salvation given to us because of the love of the Father for us. And let us share that love with those around us who so desperately need it.  

June Jones has been praying in a Moms in Prayer group since 1996 for her two now-grown sons, Kevin and Brendan, and currently leads a College and Career group. She also serves as the NJ Prayer calendar coordinator. June works full-time in a law office but still finds the time to prepare and present the power point for her church each Sunday. She has been married to her husband, Phil, for 38 years. You will most always see her wearing a hat!

photo credit: Shandi-lee via photopincc

Crocs and Gators

A Reflection on Racial Diversity in our Churches

With your blood you [Jesus] purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Revelation 5:9

There’s only one place in the world where alligators and crocodiles co-exist, and that’s in the Everglades. The park’s fresh waters, in which gators dwell, mingle with Florida Bay’s salt water, which crocs need, providing the perfect environment for both of these reptiles.

My husband Joe and I saw plenty of alligators when we visited the Everglades—not surprising, since there are over a million of them in Florida alone—and we were fortunate to spot a crocodile in the Flamingo area (they’re an endangered species, with only an estimated 500 in existence in the U.S.). We were able to tell the difference between them, even from a safe distance (highly recommended), thanks to a tutorial in a park visitor center. We learned crocodiles are olive-colored, with pointier snouts, and their lower teeth are visible when their mouths are shut (the preferred way to observe them, in my opinion). 

You might say Joe and I live in a croc and gator world. We look quite different from the majority of residents around us—we’re Caucasian, and most of our neighbors are African-American. Our church is similarly mixed. Living and worshiping in integrated settings has been one of the richest experiences of our lives.  

I also realize it’s not the norm, especially when it comes to church. It was Episcopal Bishop James A. Pike who first said, “The 11 o’clock hour on Sunday is the most segregated hour in American life” (quoted in the May 16, 1960 issue of US News & World Report), a phrase echoed later that decade by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mark Chaves, professor of sociology, religion, and divinity at Duke University, mentions that same axiom in his conclusions from the National Congregations Study: 

Congregations have become more ethnically and racially diverse even since 1998, [when] 20 percent of attendees were in congregations that were completely white and non-Hispanic; in 2006-07, 14 percent were.

Let me be clear about what this means. We do not see significant increases since 1998 in the proportion of predominantly Latino or Asian or African American congregations in the United States. Nor do we see any significant increase in what we might call deeply diverse congregations…What we do see is a significant increase in the presence of some minorities in predominantly white congregations. Fewer congregations, in other words, are 100 percent white and non-Hispanic.

I do not want to overstate the significance of this trend. It definitely is too soon to discard the old saw that 11 a.m. Sunday is the most segregated hour of the week. The vast majority of American congregations remain overwhelmingly white or black or Hispanic or Asian or whatever...Somewhat like black-white intermarriage, which is increasing even though it remains rare, increasing minority presence in predominantly white congregations represents some progress, however small, in a society in which ethnicity and, especially, race, still divide us.

Race still divides us in America, even with our election of a black president? You bet. Joe and I have seen it first hand, and perhaps you have too. But is it really an important issue within the church?

I believe it is. If you want to know why, I recommend three books: Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith; United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation As an Answer to the Problem of Race, by Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Michael O. Emerson, George Yancey, and Karen Chai Kim; and One Body, One Spirit: Principles of Successful Multiracial Churches by George Yancey. 

Here’s a thought: Wouldn’t it be a powerful testimony to the Gospel to be able to say that another place crocs and gators gather is in church at 11 o’clock Sunday morning? 

As we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., today, and our first African American President is sworn in for his second term, what are your thoughts? Are we making progress toward integration through our churches…throughout our nation?

Penny Musco is a freelance writer with a terrific family—husband, daughter, mom, two brothers, and an assortment of in-laws, nieces and nephews. Her first passion is living for God as His child, redeemed from my “empty way of life…with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18, 19). A second is being with her family. Creating stories, whether fiction or non-fiction, is a third. And then there’s travel, especially to places where she can get up close and personal with the natural world. Trekking through the national parks is the best way she's found to combine all four. 

Penny blogs at Life Lessons From the National Parks. She can also be found at http://www.pennymusco.com and  http://www.steal-away.com

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 photo credit: BjørnS via photopincc