Easter & Lent

We consider Christmas and Easter to be the two most important holidays on the calendar, because they are celebrations of Jesus Christ’s birth & resurrection, which is the pivotal event in Christianity, and in fact, all history! We try to take time each day during Lent (the 40 days prior to Easter) to reflect on what Jesus has done for us. Scroll down for a more detailed description of Lent.

Here are our favorite online Lenten devotionals. Plus I’m a big fan of Lent Madness and have participated in this for several years. One thing we do every year as a family is Resurrection Eggs. This is a great hands-on tool for all ages and includes Scriptures and details about what Jesus did for us in dying for us so that we can live with God forever!

We have in some years read through Amon’s Adventure, a wonderful children’s story woven around the Biblical account. In recent years, we’ve added the Lenten candle tradition–there’s something about candlelight that helps create a more reflective mood. For several years, we arose at 4:00 or 5:00am and hiked to the top of Stone Mountain as a family, to view the sunrise and participate in a worship service on top. We haven’t done that since Esther & Karis came home! Perhaps we’ll pick it up again soon 🙂

We always enjoy the worship service with our church, and each year I am moved to tears of sorrow and joy. After our annual Easter service, we come home to enjoy a special meal together.

Our menu for Easter 2018 included Falafels (with pita bread, green peppers, hummus), Hearts of Palm Cakes, Brown Rice and Quinoa Pilaf, Braided Bread, fresh fruit platter, red wine cheese ball, and sparkling ciders / juices.

We always decorate and enjoy a cross-shaped cake for dessert! We follow that with our annual Easter egg hunt, which is fun no matter how old the “kids” are 🙂 We love to decorate eggs together and many times have watched one of our movies about the life of Jesus (“Jesus”, “Matthew”, “Jesus of Nazareth”, “The Passion of the Christ”).

What is Lent?

Lent is a solemn 40-day period in the Christian calendar, beginning on Ash Wednesday, observed in many Christian churches as a time of preparing our minds and hearts to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. Our goal in practicing Lent is to draw near to God. Lent is characterized by prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards others). During Lent, we intentionally practice sober reflection, serious repentance, and sincere restitution, in which we more fully recognize our brokenness as humans, looking always to Jesus Christ as our Savior and sanctifier. During Lent, we seek to live lives marked by simplicity, self-denial, and surrender, in imitation of Christ Jesus, who fasted for 40 days in the wilderness before He began His public ministry. During Lent, we look for ways in which we express love for neighbors and nations in need in practical ways through generously giving of our time, talents, and treasures. Lent is a period of grief that ends with the great celebration of Easter.