Eastertide...Living the Resurrection!

The season of Eastertide lasts fifty days from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday, which falls on May 11 this year. I wonder why the church does not seem to put as much emphasis on this season as Advent or Lent? Maybe we have “church calendar’itis” from the intentionality of making space for Advent and Lent? I’m not sure? But, I do find myself yearning for more celebration and reflection in the resurrection and new life! As joyous as Easter Sunday is, one day just doesn’t seem adequate to celebrate, rejoice, and make space to live the resurrection more fully! Of course, we need to live the resurrection all year long, but Eastertide can be a meaningful season to do that more deeply. I also think we “shortchange” Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, Jesus promises to his disciples and us.

This quote from N.T. Wright continues to resonate with me this Easter season:
“So how can we learn to live as wide-awake people, as Easter people?… In particular if Lent is a time to give things up, Easter ought to be a time to take things up…. If Calvary means putting to death things in your life that need killing off if you are to flourish as a Christian and as a truly human being, then Easter should mean planting, watering, and training up things in your life (personal and corporate) that ought to be blossoming, filling the garden with color and perfume and in due course bearing fruit… Jesus resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.”
(Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T.Wright)

Wright’s reflection, along with Romans 6 and some other readings, have brought two questions to the surface this Eastertide:
1) What do I need to die to in order to more deeply fulfill God’s calling on my life?
2) What do I need to take up in order to more deeply fulfill God’s calling on my life?

These are lifelong, yearlong questions! But they seem especially relevant to the seasons of Lent and Eastertide. During Lent we are extra attentive to the sin we need to die to. During Eastertide it seems especially timely to consider all we need to take up, plant, water, and cultivate to more fully live the resurrection and represent new life!

I pray that I can give as much intention and attention to Eastertide this year, as Advent and Lent. I would love to hear how the Holy Spirit is cultivating new life in and through you. What Scriptures, reflections, and lessons inspire and challenge you to more fully live the resurrection this Eastertide?!

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

Cristo ha resucitado! En verdad, esta resucitado!

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!
~ John Wesley

Holy Saturday

I continue to find reflection this church year with a book that follows the seasons and traditions of one Benedictine monastery. The section on Easter details worship during Holy Week. I especially found the following quote on Holy Saturday helpful and meaningful.

“Holy Saturday follows, called ‘the most blessed Sabbath on which Christ sleeps,’ by the Liturgy. I am particularly fond of Holy Saturday. In a way, it is even quieter than Good Friday, since no liturgy is celebrated, but we share both in the sorrow of the Passion and burial of Jesus and in the anticipated joy of the Resurrection. An Eastern Byzantine text poignantly conveys the mystery of Holy Saturday:

'O happy tomb! You received within yourself
the Creator and the Author of life.
O strange wonder! He who dwells on high
is sealed beneath the earth with his own consent.'

The stillness, the deep silence, and the peace we experience on Holy Saturday, keeping watch by the tomb of Christ, is perhaps the best preparation for the explosive, all-powerful joy of the Resurrection. Very often in life, we are likewise led through loss and sorrow to a new phase of peace and understanding that ultimately culminates in deep joy.”
(Monastic Year: Reflections from a Monastery, Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette)

under construction...

Tonight I decided to switch it up and give the blog a new look. Kick off life here with a new template. Simple and easy, right? Opps! What I neglected to realize is all my sidebar links would disappear...so, the blog extreme makeover will be a work in progress. I'll work on getting them back up soon!

Good Friday

Last night I came home from dinner and watching The Passion of the Christ with the Deans just a few minutes before midnight. Just across the street and outside my window is a historic church, San Pedro Telmo built by the Jesuits in 1733. As I was getting ready for bed, I heard singing outside. I looked outside the window and there was a fairly large crowd singing outside the church to begin Good Friday. It was a meaningful close to my mediations on the Stations of the Cross this Lent. Later this afternoon I will go back to the Deans and we will go through a portion of the Book of Common Prayer Good Friday liturgy. Tonight I will attend a Good Friday communion service at the church.

On another note, I would appreciate prayers for my grandfather who is 85. He had two intensive care hospital visits late last year and he has never fully regained his health and strength. His heart is extremely weak and has an irregular heartbeat. Most recently this last month he was fighting a bad virus, so the doctors are giving him extra attention right now. Please pray for his health and God’s strength for both him and my grandma. I know they are tired and discouraged at times.

Here are a couple pics of the church outside my window and balcony.

connecting lent and easter

Yesterday I got internet going at my temporary apartment here in Buneos Aires. This should make it easier to get back into a blogging groove these weeks ahead. I continue to find writing and blogging a helpful way to process and reflect...whether anyone actually reads this stuff or not. :)

Amidst the busy activity of preparing to leave Argentina, I spent time this Lent season in the Stations of the Cross. Scriptures of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion, along with a couple resources guided my meditations these past several weeks of Lent. Thursday night I will bring my way of the cross Lenten journey to a close and watch The Passion of the Christ with the Jeremiah and Jennifer. (The Forcattos are out of town for a few days spending time with Walter’s parents who are here visiting Argentina.) The film is center around the traditional Stations of the Cross. Today in my exploring of the city, I visited the downtown Cathedral. The Cathedral had some very old, beautiful, and detailed Stations of the Cross paintings around church. I spent time observing the people surrounding Jesus and their different reactions to him and his cross. However, I did notice how sanitized and clean Jesus was in these paintings. Not a drop of blood on him from the beatings that proceeded his carrying his cross to Golgotha. Even the crown of thorns seemed to sit gently on his head. He actually looked pretty capable of carrying the cross without falling down or needing assistance. The paintings were a pretty big contrast to the reality represented in The Passion.

I have been contemplating Romans 6:1-14 this Passion Week in preparation for Good Friday and Easter. “If we have been united with him in death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his…Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” Romans 6:5, 8. While Lent and Good Friday gives space for self-examination to more deeply grasp our death to sin because of Christ’s work on the cross, Resurrection Sunday reminds us of the new life and hope we also share in Christ.

In my blog surfing this week, I found a great quote from N.T. Wright on Christine Sine’s Godspace blog….

“So how can we learn to live as wide-awake people, as Easter people?… In particular if Lent is a time to give things up, Easter ought to be a time to take things up…. If Calvary means putting to death things in your life that need killing off if you are to flourish as a Christian and as a truly human being, then Easter should mean planting, watering, and training up things in your life (personal and corporate) that ought to be blossoming, filling the garden with color and perfume and in due course bearing fruit… Jesus resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.”
(Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T.Wright)

(Looks like I have one more book to get my hands on this year!) These words of Wright helped me connect the dots of Lent and Easter...The death to sin and resurrection of new life we share with Christ that we read about in Romans 6. Really timely connections points as I continue in my themes of hope, reconciliation, and new life this year. Especially good stuff to contemplate and soak in this Holy Weekend ahead! As Lent draws to a close and Good Friday is upon us, may our year-round season of living the Resurrection take deeper root in our hearts and impact the way we live and share the Kingdom with those around us!

here in buenos aires!

This will be a quick post from an internet cafe. I (and my bags) all arrived in Buneos Aires safe and sound on Friday morning! I arrived to the welcome arms of the community here. It was so great to see the Forcattos and the Deans. The temporary apartment that Adriana found for me is perfect for two months, while I look for a more permanant place. These first days will be spent orientating myself to the neighborhood, public transport, shopping, etc. More soon as I settle in here! Thanks for your prayers!!

one week countdown

Looks like I've been MIA on my blog in recent days. I imagine I will not have a lot of time to write and post during my final days at home. I leave for Argentina in one week on March 13. My sister, nieces, and nephew arrive tomorrow. So...between family time, packing, and last minute preparations, I think blogging will be on the back burner these days ahead. I'll be back. I look forward to sharing all that is ahead...learning and settling into life and community in Buenos Aires!