Seasons of Love

525, 600 minutes x 3

Yesterday, my husband and celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! It was our first opportunity to celebrate our anniversary on the actual anniversary day. How wonderful.

In honor of our special day, I'd like to share the words we danced to for our first dance.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

How about love?
How about love?
How about love? Measure in love

Seasons of love. Seasons of love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died.

It's time now to sing out,
Tho' the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Seasons of love!

Oh you got to got to
Remember the love!
You know that love is a gift from up above
Share love, give love spread love
Measure measure your life in love.

Celebrate, Jesus, Celebrate!

I first had the idea for this post on Monday. As I was reflecting on it, I realized it would be a great article for the church newsletter and so I submitted it as my letter for the newsletter for May.

On Easter Sunday at the 9am service, we sang, "Celebrate, Jesus, Celebrate...Come on and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord."

We are called to be people who celebrate. When we celebrate a church holiday, we are reminding ourselves that Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose again, that God loves each of us, and that the Holy Spirit is our constant companion.

When we celebrate birthdays, we have an opportunity to thank God for the gift of life. When we celebrate anniversaries, we can thank God that we are made to be in relationships with God and with each other.

Look around! There is much to celebrate. As you rejoice in the goodness around you, do not forget to say thank you to God! We do not have to wait for a birthday, anniversary, or church holiday to celebrate! Here are some more things to celebrate.
Starting a new job
Getting a driver's license
Changing of seasons
Loosing a tooth
Graduations
Getting braces (or getting them taken off!)
Having a job
End of the school year
Beginning of a new school year
The birth of a baby
Being healthy
Baptism
Visits from family and friends
Sunshine and rain
An ice cream cone on a warm day
Hot chocolate on a cold night

Take some prayer time this month to thank God for all you have to celebrate. As an individual, as a family, and as church family, we should all be on the lookout for reasons to celebrate because they are opportunities to thank our amazing God.

More Than This

Some days you just have to laugh because there is nothing left to do.

I love my job. Some days I am frustrated and grouchy and wonder why no one does what they say they will do. Some days I wonder why people do what they do??? Some days (like today) my only remaining option is to laugh because I don't understand what people are thinking, doing, not thinking, and not doing. So join me in laughing and rejoicing that there is more than this!

He's Alive!

We have entered the season of Easter. While I will miss the beautiful purple adorning the church, I am happy to be in the season of joy. The world outside is full of life and lots of yellow pollen! Lots of funny and fun things have happened recently that I'd like to share so I remember.

A debate/discussion erupted over whether Jesus might have served chocolate chip cookies at the last supper. My husband believes he did. I cannot agree with him because there was no chocolate in Jesus' area at that time (I learned lots about chocolate in my Mexican foods class while studying in Mexico in college) and cc cookies have leavening in them which is not kosher for passover! So while my husband holds onto his belief that Jesus served chocolate chip cookies and milk as the first communion, I refused to teach this to the children on Sunday morning!

On Sunday morning while telling the story of Holy Week to the children, one young girl summed up Easter's joy by saying, Yeah! Jesus is back. It makes me smile to think about this phrase. What a perfect way to celebrate the wonder that is Easter.

Since it is the Easter season and Jesus is alive, I'm going to make an extra effort to see where he is working in my life and in the lives of those I meet. Allelulia!

Let all mortal flesh keep silence

The Lenten season is ending. It does not go out without a bang. For more than 40 days, we have been anticipating this time. The season of Lent prepares us for Easter. In order for us to get to Easter, we have to live through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Not the easiest time to live through and live in.
As I child I remember Good Friday as my favorite worship service of the year. This may strike some people as strange. I love the somberness and the silence while leaving. It was so different from any other day in the church year. You could feel it. I miss that now. The churches I've served since seminary have not had Good Friday services. They've celebrated Maundy Thursday in a variety of ways but never Good Friday.
I should mention that my home church didn't worship on Maundy Thursday, so it is not unusual for a congregation to select one or the other.
Over the years, I've found ways to observe and honor this time of year myself. I'm not sure I've found the perfect way or a way that I use more than one time. I lead worship this evening with the congregation. Tomorrow I'll be spending the day with friends. There will be some prayer and Scripture reading...maybe a worship service or maybe not. Saturday, I'm not sure how I'll spend it. I will try to spend time in the moment and not looking ahead to Sunday. Live in the struggle and sadness for a few days...