Remembering the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth

Right after Trinity Sunday (at least this year since Trinity Sunday is the Sunday after Pentecost, which is 50 days after Easter which is a holiday that is on a different Sunday each year) is the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. 

This site here has a good history of this feast day. In essence, according to this site here, this feast day marks the meeting of two women with miraculous pregnancies getting together and praising God. This site here has a good homily on the Visitation. This site here has good information, but I am linking it because of the Mary/Elizabeth picture that is absolutely stunning. This site here gives seven suggestions/lessons from this holy day.  

To be honest, this is a new holy day for me to learn about. Being of the Protestant persuasion means that this holiday has not really been emphasized in the churches I have attended. 

Suggested Activities: 

Plan: Look through the sites referenced above for background knowledge and ideas for your family and church. 

Read: Luke 1:39-56, paying special attention to Mary's interactions with Elizabeth. 

Decorate & Feast: If time and resources permit, why not decorate and feast like it's a baby shower? Have baby carrots and baby spinach, as well as any other baby-themed foods you can think of. Find some pictures online of Mary and Elizabeth meeting for some of the decorations. Better yet, any baby-themed things you buy for this holy day celebration, find a new mother or a pregnancy organization to donate them to afterwards. 

Contemplate: What might have Mary and Elizabeth talked about during Mary's visit? 

Observing Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday in the greater length of Ordinary Time (more on this season of the church year next week). 

This site here has a bit of the history of Trinity Sunday (both from the Bible and general church history). It discusses symbols to represent the Holy Spirit. Unlike many Church feasts and fasts, which celebrate a person or an event, this feast day is to celebrate the doctrine of the Trinity. 

This site here has a lectionary (prayers and Scripture readings) for Trinity Sunday. This site here has more lectionary and hymn ideas.  This site here has a worship leaflet, as well as suggestions for decorations and foods. 

Trinity Sunday is a feast day to remember and discuss the mystery of the Trinity. This site here has a lot of triple food ideas, as well as food that can be cut into triangles. 

Suggested Activities: 

Plan: Look through the sites referenced above for ideas that would work for your family and church. 

Read: Find Scripture passages that talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit/Ghost. 

Decorate: Green is the color of Ordinary Time, so try to wear green clothes, set out green decorations, and eat green foods. 

Feast: This is a feast day, so be sure to include special foods in your Sunday meals. Bonus points for including naturally green foods. Alternatively, set out tri-color foods and cut your food into triangles when possible. 

Contemplate: Reflect on the Trinity. Consider the attributes of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 

5/23: Ending Eastertide, Celebrating Pentecost

Pentecost marks the end of Eastertide. Throughout the season of Eastertide, we have contemplated how the small, ordinary things can point us to God. Pentecost is a holy day in the Church Year, but it is also a season. This season is actually referred to as Ordinary Time, but more on that in a later post. 

Pentecost, in essence, is when Christians remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Early Christians. It has been viewed as the "birthday of the church" and feast day. Fun fact, Pentecost was originally a Jewish feast. In the Old Testament, it is translated as the feast of weeks or the feast of harvest, but in Greek, it was called Pentecost. For more on the Jewish history of this Christian holy day, you can check out this site here, this site here, and this other site here. The reason so many people from so many places were in Jerusalem was for this Jewish feast. It was one of the three holy days that required Jews to travel to Jerusalem. 

Celebrating Pentecost at Home: This site here and this one here each have 5 ways Pentecost can be celebrated at home. Our celebration doesn't have to be expensive or elaborate to be meaningful. This site here has more ideas for celebrating at home. They encourage utilizing the wind in our celebrations. This site here has more of a prayer service/liturgy for Pentecost that can be done at home. 

Celebrating Pentecost at Church: This site here covers the biblical basis for Pentecost and has a lot of ideas (including many craft ideas) on how Pentecost can be celebrated at church. (I loved their idea on reading part of Acts 2 in many different languages). This site here has some ideas for celebrating Pentecost as a Church. Since Pentecost is viewed as the Church's birthday, they recommend serving cake. 

Suggested Activities: 

Plan: Look through the sites referenced above for ideas that would work for your family and church. 

Read: Acts 2 is the story of Pentecost, so it can be read and discussed. 

Decorate: Red is the color of Pentecost, so try to wear red clothes, set out red decorations, and eat red foods. 

Feast: This is a feast day, so be sure to include special foods in your Sunday meals. Bonus points for including naturally red foods. 

Contemplate: Reflect on the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit as we remember the Spirit coming to guide us. 

7th Sunday of Eastertide: Making Chores Sacred

Our theme for Eastertide is finding joy as we faithfully do the small things, so today we will look at making chore time a sacred time. 

We are often guilty of dismissing the mundane as a secular activity. Today, I am going to challenge us to look at how the mundane chores we do can be a tool we use to glorify God and contemplate His character. 

Tackling our chores is a type of discipline. It takes intentionality to do a task from start to finish, as well as faithfulness to do it week in and week out. It can be an act of service if we live in a household with other people. As the cliché goes, nothing says "I love you" like a dresser full of clean clothes. Yet sometimes, we subtly look down upon those who are homemakers and caregivers. They don't have a paycheck or cool job description, but their work is just as vital as paying jobs. 

Chores can be a time of worship. If we turn off the TV, the news, or other distractions, we can listen to hymns and choruses. We can praise God while folding the clothes. We can exalt Him, while washing dishes. 

Chores can be a time of prayer. We can either pray for people and places while we work, or we can let the chores we do shape our prayers. For example, we can ask the Holy Spirit...

...to sweep out sin from our lives as we sweep the floor.

...to scrub out the corners of our heart & mind to cleanse them as we wash dishes.

...to order our priorities in line with Kingdom priorities as we put a messy room to rights.

...to weed out bitterness, jealously, anger, and other vices from our lives as we weed the flowerbeds and garden plots.

...to prune us so we may be more fruitful as we mow the lawn and prune our bushes.

...to add godly virtues in our lives as we add spices to our meal. 

...to nourish our spirits as well as our bodies as we cook dinner.

Chores can be a time of praise. We can either praise God for people and events that are happening in our lives, or we can use the chores as the prompt to thank God. For example, we can thank God for...

...clothes to wear as we fold clothes.

...a warm/cool house to live in as we sweep and tidy our way around the house.

...food to eat as we prepare breakfast.

...clean water to drink as we wash dishes.

...the strength to do our chores as we work. 

...our family as we put away the things they left around the house.

...things we no longer need as we declutter stuff that can go on to bless someone else.

Chores can be a time of growth. Use this time to listen to a sermon or an audiobook on Christian growth. As we use our chores to prompt our praises to God, let the Holy Spirit nudge us to donate things and help people who do not have all the resources that we have access to. 

Chores can be a time of contemplation as we work in silence. Having a time of quietness can allow us to hear the Holy Spirit's guidance. 

Chores don't have to be a drudgery or a mundane part of our week. We can take the same basic activities millions of people do around the world every day and turn them into a sacred activity. 

What can you do this week to make the chores you do into a sacred activity? 

Celebrating the Ascension of the Lord

Ascension Day marks the 40th day of Eastertide. It is a feast day to celebrate Jesus' ascension into heaven 40 days after He rose from the dead. This is a day to celebrate Christ being exalted from the suffering servant on earth to the Lord of all. (Source) This site here has a good timeline on the history of Ascension Day. 

There are liturgies online for this Holy Thursday. Acts 1:6-12, Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:19-20, and Luke 24:50-53 are some of the Scripture references for Jesus' ascension. 

This blog here has some ideas on how to celebrate Ascension Day, such as making themed foods, song/video/picture suggestions, and more. 

Ascension Day is not among the most well known holidays in the Protestant Church. At its core, this is a day to remember Jesus' ascension into heaven and what that means for us. 

Read the ends of the Gospels and the start of Acts to review what the Bible records about the ascension.

Find songs that celebrate Jesus' authority and kingship. (One way to do this is to look for songs that mention Jesus/He/His/Him, more than it mentions I/you/me/us. Many songs in our hymnal seem to spend more time talking about us than the recipient of our worship!)

Make a special meal for today. Many of us do not have time in the middle of work week to plan an elaborate feast, but we can do small things to make the meals we have special. For example, 

*Weather permitting, eat outside, in view of the sky

*Set a white tablecloth on the table to symbolize the clouds or a blue tablecloth to symbolize the sky

*Listen to something about Ascension Day during your meal (a sermon, song, or video clip)

*Discuss what it means that Jesus is Lord of All. Consider how your life is different as a result of this truth. 

*Exalt Jesus. Praise Him. Worship Him. Ponder the names of Jesus. 

*Imagine what Jesus might have taught His disciples in the 40 days between His resurrection and ascension into heaven. 

*Ask the Spirit to give you an outreach or service idea to do on Ascension Day. What is a way you can minister to someone, meet one of their needs, or bless them? What is one aspect of Jesus' example you are being called to follow? 

6th Sunday of Eastertide: Recording Gratitude

Our theme for Eastertide is finding joy as we faithfully do the small things, so today we will look at recording gratitude.

One of the best gifts I was ever given was a gratitude journal. Each page was for one day of the year (say May 9th), but had designated spaces for 5 entries. So my gratitude journal will be used for 5 years, before I need another one. The benefit of this design, instead of just using a notebook and filling it out year by year, is that I can look back at things I was grateful for a year ago on this day or three years ago on this day. 

The Bible encourages gratitude (see Colossians 3:16 in the NIV, Hebrews 12:28-29 NASB, Colossians 2:6-7 NASB, and 1 Timothy 4:4-5 NASB), as well as being thankful/offering thanksgiving (over 30 results in the NIV). Additionally, commands to glorify (19 results in the NIV) and praise (over 360 results in the NIV) are quite common as well. 

The core of gratitude is telling God "Thank You" for what He has done. Our society is very individualistic and self-centered, so the natural temptation is to thank ourselves for what we have done (i.e. I'm thankful that I cooked dinner and cleaned the kitchen), but if our goal is to thank God, then we need to rephrase our sentiment (i.e. Thank You for the energy to cook dinner and the motivation to clean the kitchen). 

When we start looking for things to be thankful for, there is so much to notice, both big and small. Below are some prompts to consider thanking God for:

Favorite things, such as foods, drinks, or clothes 

The weather and the changing seasons

Energy/motivation/strength to do tasks

Timely reminders to do/take things 

People in your life

Work days and Rest days

If you are struggling to come up with ideas, looking up some Jewish blessing-prayers might give you some ideas. The site Hebrew4Christians has plenty of prayers recorded that can be adapted for your gratitude journal. There's a prayer for waking up, eating bread, smelling fruit, having a need met, hearing thunder, seeing something beautiful, seeing a rainbow, and so much more.

Let's try to write (or type) a thank you note to God this week. It can be as long or as short as you'd like. You can format it like a thank you note you would write when you get presents (Thank You for a warm cup of tea on a cool evening. Peppermint is my favorite flavor) or just a simple "Thank You for ____." 

What are you grateful for? What can you thank God for? 

5th Sunday of Eastertide: Rehumanizing People

Our theme for Eastertide is finding joy as we faithfully do the small things, so today we will look at how to rehumanize people.

This may seem like a strange theme, because we don't have many people walking around going "Wow, I am sure dehumanizing a lot of people!", but our actions show that we have been dehumanizing people for quite a while.

We dehumanize people when we treat them like a good or service for our convenience. Are we treating waiters, cashiers, and gas station attendants as humans made in the image of God? Are we tipping them like they, as human beings, deserve to put food on their table after they work an eight-hour shift? If not, let us change the way we treat and tip those in the service industry. 

We dehumanize people when we treat them like they are invisible or diseased. Are we making eye contact with the people holding signs at intersections? Are we willing to approach them to share from our abundance? If not, let us acknowledge the humanity of those society has pushed to the margins. 

We dehumanize people when we call them names. Monster. Criminal. Addict. Idiot. Murderer. Are we using our words to build people up and encourage them? Do we view our opponents as human beings, trying to make what they believe are good decisions? If not, let us apologize when our words cut people down and insult them.

We dehumanize people when we say that violence is the only thing those people understand. Do we realize we can negotiate and compromise with people who disagree with us? Do we encourage non-violent solutions to problems? Many people act like we are in "zero-sum games" (either I win & you lose OR I lose and you win), but it is possible to reach compromises that are mutually beneficial to both parties. If not, let us problem-solve creatively to find solutions that each person involved can live with. 

We dehumanize people when we lump them into large categories and stereotype them. Do we view the person we are interacting with as their own unique person who is influenced by their culture, gender, upbringing, and other attributes in a special combination that makes them unique? Are we aware of our biases and stereotypes so we can identify them in our minds and words? If not, let us pray for the wisdom to identify these flaws in our thinking as we actively work to retrain our brain in how we perceive people. 

We dehumanize people when we treat some lives as less valuable because they are not our nationality, religion, or ethnic group. Are we just as concerned for the child seeking asylum as we are for the border patrol agent? Are we just as concerned about the redemption of the terrorist as the safety of those they are persecuting? If not, let us seek to advocate for the good of all people, instead of just "my people". 

We dehumanize people when we use animalistic descriptions to describe people. Calling someone a boar, an ape, or a rat. Do we intentionally choose to use positive and humane descriptions of people? Are we careful to consider how our word choice can be hurtful to others? Do we apologize and change our phrasing when we are told that our words have hurt a person? If not, let us be humble and teachable as we learn what words and actions hurt the people we interact with. 

We dehumanize people when we spew our anger, frustration, or pain at whoever is near us. Do we utilize self-control when we are upset? Do we seek to express our negative emotions in appropriate ways (in the proper place, time, and setting)? Do we make sure we are attacking the problem and not the person nearest to us? Are we talking directly to the person we have a problem with? If not, let us treat the people around us as individuals who get to decide if they want to hear our frustrations AND if that moment & setting is the best time to open that "can of worms". 

We dehumanize people when we use sarcasm, mockery, or ridicule to cut people down. Do we avoid giving back-handed compliments that feel like a compliment with a barbed tail? (Oftentimes, adding a qualifier to a compliment makes it insulting. "You are a good driver, for a woman." can be insulting, whereas "You are a good driver." is a compliment.) Are we willing to consider that things we and our culture view as funny can be hurtful to people? If not, let us seek to build up our empathy, compassion, and discernment. 

We dehumanize people when we boil a person's life down to an adjective or description that absolves us of compassion, mercy, and grace. Illegal. Evil. Heartless. Despicable. Do we view people as capable of being redeemed if they repent? Do we act like we believe that God's forgiveness can wash out any sin a person has committed and repented of? If not, let us repent of our judgment and condemnation of those God has forgiven.

Do you see why we need to start rehumanizing people? I very rarely venture onto social media because the statuses, memes, and links people share are often toxic, dehumanizing, cruel, and self-righteous. It breaks my heart to see normally loving and kind Christians belittle, mock, and shame their opponents. The "normal" way that we treat people is not how God has called us to treat people. We are not loving our neighbors as ourselves when we share that post that depicts our side as the long-suffering good and the other side as "evil personified". 

People think that dehumanizing others only hurts those who are being dehumanized, but it actually warps two souls: the one being dehumanized and the one doing the dehumanizing. Both souls are in need of redemption. One soul is shredded due to being dehumanized, but the other soul is rotting from dehumanizing others. Both need healing and reconciled to God and to each other. 

It is my prayer that we learn to see the humanity in those who disagree with us. This is not something we can do on our own strength; we can only do this by the grace of God. When we learn to see the humanity of our opponents, then the Holy Spirit will begin the process of decontaminating our souls from the filth and damage caused by dehumanizing those around us.