The Blessings of Easter

Today I went walking/hiking alone and spent time reflecting on this past Easter weekend and all the church services and events that happened. As usual the four day weekend began Thursday night with the Maundy Thursday Service. Our church was having a meal and then foot washing in the sanctuary and I felt I wanted to do something different. I wanted to attend a service where I wouldn’t have to work and where I could be spiritually nurtured and awed in the mystery of the Easter story. I attended a small Anglican church down the street where myself and 18 others gathered. The service flowed wonderfully and the priest shared a lovely message about Jesus washing the disciple’s feet and what a gift it is to wash someone else’s feet and also to have yours washed. She spoke about how the churches ministry needed to reach outside the church and into the community, how we need to serve and care for each other. I left there feeling calm and at peace. I left with a wonderful sense of peace and the feeling of being spiritually fed.


Spring Flowers

The following morning I attended the Good Friday service at my own church which was a service of music and readings. It was a very quiet contemplative service attended by 60 members. Our choir led the music and sang some very meaningful anthems. I find the contemplative services full of meaning and a time where I can be close to God. Following the service 15 of us hiked up a local mountain to the cross that stands near the top. The spring flowers were out in bloom and we stopped and admired their beauty. It was a time of constant chatter and a time to get to know each other outside the church. We were filled spiritually and physically. It was a good feeling. As we reached the cross I received a text from my son on the mainland telling me that his wife had gone into labour. My first grandchild would arrive over the next few days. I was so excited and filled with joy.

Friday was a long night and Saturday a very long day as I awaited news from my son but at 6:45pm my son’s son was born. I had no idea the emotion I would feel and was totally unprepared for the deep sense of love. Becoming a grandparent is just amazing. Seeing your child become a parent, seeing a newborn that looks so much like the baby you gave birth to 25 years earlier, the feelings that come over you are totally indescribable. New life is such a precious gift and as my youngest daughter said, “our family just became bigger and cuter”. It certainly has and we are so blessed that everyone is well and healthy. My heart has been opened, and a week later my love for my children and grandchild is still overflowing.

My Precious Easter Blessing

As I hiked along today I thought back to Easter weekend the previous year and how different it was from this year. Last year on Maundy Thursday I spent some quiet time with a friend who was dying. That night the minister and his wife came and together we shared in a small service of communion. It was an emotional night full of sadness but full of God’s love and mystery. I find it so amazing that my friend died last year on the day between Good Friday, the day Christ died on the cross and Easter Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection and this year my grandson was born on the Saturday of the Easter weekend. Death and new life are what Easter is all about and here in two different years yet on the same day my life was touched first with death and then birth. The cycle of life continues on and continues to amaze me. Both death and birth touch us deeply in our hearts bringing us emotions that can overwhelm us with both sorrow and joy. A former minster always said to me that in order to experience the joy of Easter you have to begin with Maundy Thursday and journey through Jesus’ death on Good Friday. Only then can you really feel the joy of Easter. I believe that to be true about life as well. If we don’t experience death of loved ones then we really can’t feel the joy that new life gives us. Life is a journey that takes us to places we know nothing about. You can listen to people’s stories, you can read about their journeys but until you actually experience it you can’t totally feel or understand it. Thank you God for this blessed Easter of 2014. I am so very thankful.