Post-Easter Thoughts

FULL
it was a full week-end; good-friday & easter gathering with westside; my wife and I (90% planning by my wife) hosted a neighborhood easter egg hunt Saturday AM; family lunch on Sunday afternoon

MEANINGFUL
i love taking time out for good friday - it helps me intentionally reflect on the cross; my Friday talk was called, Your Cross, My Cross, Who's Cross - it led people to consider who's cross they're really carrying - hopefully the one Jesus calls us to.
Easter for our community has never been big in terms of guests - not sure if it's that we're a young non-traditional group or that our community is not interested in new church experiences on this Christian holiday... but none-the-less, being shaped by the resurrection is essential for any Christ-follower and Easter is a great way to be shaped in that way.

COMMUNITY
this egg hunt we hosted was a great neighborhood event; it seems people want to know their neighbors; to have 37 in our driveway hanging out for 2 hours is pretty cool; we got to extend kindness to some neighbors I'm already building relationships with, and got to meet some new ones; the variety was cool: italian, greek, jewish, french-canadian, indian, portuguese.

TIRING
Sunday PM I was out. relaxed, watched Madagascar again with the kids... and then an HBO Seinfeld Stand Up DVD later... a little vegging over the last 40min. of Daredevil on TV, and then BED.
TODAY I promised my son I would not do any church or house work and keep it open for the kids. So we drove around together, did some shopping, ate, played street hockey, some board games, a little TV, and now I'm writing this post (and they're sleeping). A good Sabbath from work and house demands.

QUOTES
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Mark 8:34
The real cross is the one you have not chosen, the one that doesn't fit neatly on your shoulder. That is a very authentic cross and so very difficult to accept.
Basil Hume
No one embraces the cross naturally
Scot McKnight
Peter, struggled with the cross and with a Jesus who thought his end would be on a cross
Scot McKnight
He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Phil 2:8
(from my talk)
...I think we do something terribly wrong when we equate the cross with the inconveniences or struggles of life.
...Some have so twisted the cross they’ve altered it to fit their life, their views, their struggle, their religion, their spirituality
...The cross of Jesus cannot be made to measure like a Starbuck’s latte
...Who's cross are we taking up?