Maria Grace, Easter 2008

I took a few videos this Easter too, and Jim and Kara's youngest daughter, Maria Grace, seemed to be in the spotlight. You can see her trucking along in this first video, just barely making it in the snow. I asked her a question at the end of the video, and she gave me an unequivocal yes in response.

Here's another video of her, hunting out another egg.



And yet one more...I think she's just adorable.

Easter, 2008

The family had a terrific time yesterday celebrating Easter. I haven't posted many pictures of my nieces and nephews, so I brought along my camera and captured some pictures of our gathering.

Here's the dessert table, one of the most important parts of any family gathering at our house (and is it a surprise it's the first picture I posted?) I made some of my mint chocolate cookies, but in brownie form. The two pies to the right are the best pies anyone ate anywhere in America this past Easter, my mom's amazing cherry pies. The other one was made by me, a blackberry/Meyer lemon pie. The general consensus was that the lemon was too strong and masked the blackberry flavor. I've been on such a Meyer lemon kick, I think I went a little overboard, though I liked it just fine.


My nephews took advantage of a sunny day to do a little pre egg hunt shooting. Their target of choice? The much despised Sponge Bob Squarepants. Here they are heading back inside, from front to back: Josh, Zach and Caleb.






Here I am surrounded by two of Dave's kids, and two of Jim's children. The newest addition to our family is nine month old Xavier Anthony Gerard, sitting on my lap, flanked on the right by his sister Katherine and on the left by his cousin Abby, and the one behind her is Elizabeth. Them's some cute kids!

Here are a couple more pictures of Xavier, one with a proud grandpa, then one with a big ole smile, sitting on Grandma's lap, and then one being held by Uncle Steve.





We always let the youngest kids get a jump start on things, and here's Abby trying her best to get an egg out of what was a great hiding spot, with the older kids waiting and watching intently from the porch.

I decided to station myself at this egg, which was just a little too high for the young kids to see. I wasn't quick enough to get John's face when he saw the egg, just the grab--and in his case, he was already looking for the next one while his hand was on this one.




Check out this happy crew:

That's Abby, Elizabeth, Katherine and Maria Grace. Elizabeth asked me if I could hurry up and take the picture. I think she had eggs on her mind. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you'll see John in the back...he's either eating snow, or just found another Easter egg--I can't tell which.





There's Big John blazing his own trail--as you can see, there aren't many adult footprints in the snow near where he's headed...I don't think he had much luck over there, but he had the biggest haul of the day, with 46 eggs. In another part of the field, I was pretty devious, making some major trails in the snow, with absolutely no egg drops near by to send my oldest nephews off the scent. It worked brilliantly.

Towards the end of the hunt, in the waning hours of daylight.


There's Elizabeth running towards my brother Dave, and Gianna, hoping to get a few more eggs.

I think this is my favorite picture of the day, one of my goddaughter Emily. I think she's a beautiful girl, like all of my nieces. What can I say? I'm a proud uncle!

Elisabeth Elliot, IV

I am thinking today of two friends who have lost a loved one--one, the grandmother of her children and another an expected child, full of hope and possibility. I have found great comfort in the writings of Elisabeth Elliot, and last night I read these words which I found comforting. I urge you to read my friend Sherry's account of the funeral of her mother-in-law. It's beautiful, painful and full of hope all at the same time. God's people have hope!

The place where we must meet Him today is the cross where the Lord of the Universe dealt finally with death. It is no vague and silly optimism we speak of, no false mysticism, but a bowing in humble repentance and faith at the foot of that cross. We must be crucified with Christ. That is the beginning of the new life--the deathknell and the birthpeal ringing at the same time.

The resurrection happened. We believe it. We bank all our hopes on it. Jesus is alive. And yet...and yet we sorrow. There is no incongruity between the human tears and the pure joy of the presence of Christ--He wept human tears too. Nor is there sin in grieving, provided we do not give way to it and begin to pity ourselves. It is still appointed unto man once to die, and those who are left must grieve, yet not as those without hope. Resurrection is a fact. There would be no Easter and no basis for Christian faith without it. Hence there is no situation so hopeless, no horizon so black, that God cannot there "find His glory."

Crown Him the Son of God
Before the worlds began,
And ye who tread where He hath trod,
Crown Him the Son of man;
who every grief hath known
that wrings the human breast,
And takes and bears them for His own,
that all in Him may rest.

--Matthew Bridges

From Elisabeth Elliot's A Path Through Suffering, pp. 128-129.

Thoughts this Easter

Is there a right way to celebrate Easter? As I drove home tonight from playing the Easter vigil service at the Cathedral in Lansing, I found myself asking this question. In the car, I had on NPR's American Roots program, and I heard Aretha Franklin singing with a gospel choir, belting out a song, praising Jesus for what he's done, followed by a Dixieland group playing When the Saints Go Marching In. All three were so different, yet they all focused on the same message.

A bizarre ritual performed by the Eastern Orthodox Church was also on my mind, since I heard about it earlier today on All Things Considered: the ritual of the Holy Fire. Have you heard of this? This has been going on every Easter for over 1,200 years. I think it's one of the strangest and most fantastical rituals in all of Christendom.

According to the Eastern Orthodox Church, every Easter, Holy Fire descends into the tomb of Jesus (which tradition says is located at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem). Apparently, early during the day, the tomb is inspected for any device that might produce flames, to ensure that no human means could produce the Holy Fire. The entrance to the tomb is then sealed with wax.

At the appointed hour, a somber procession of priests will circle the tomb three times, once for each member of the Holy Trinity. Then, the patriarch of the church will be stripped of his ceremonial robes, leaving him clothed only in a white robe. He will enter the tomb, and pray for the fire to be sent down from heaven, a sign that Christ has not forgotten humanity. In a few minutes, his hand is extended out a portal, and he holds a lighted torch. The assemblage screams with joy, and the flame is passed from person to person as candles are lit throughout the church. The flame is then transported all across the world to light candles in Orthodox churches everywhere.

Bizarre, don't you think? And what a strange tradition and way to celebrate Easter. I'm of course a skeptic, and think it's a bit absurd (though I certainly don't doubt the possibility--I just don't believe that God operates that way today). Regardless, all of these different traditions and forms of worship made me wonder about what we think of the rituals of others, and if there's a "right way" to celebrate Easter.

I like the diversity I see. I'm glad some people in the Orthodox Church believe that Holy Fire comes down from heaven once a year. I'm glad that gospel choirs all across the nation will be hooting and hollering in praise of God on Easter, and that somewhere in New Orleans, a Dixieland band will be leading people in worship. And I'm glad that rich liturgies will be employed in churches all across the land too. I wonder what Easter celebrations are like in Peru, or in South Korea, or deep in the heart of Africa. My church will have it's own flavor--I'll be hearing a rock band lead Mars Hill in praise to God for what he's done. Not my cup of tea, but I recognize that it's a way for a lot of people to connect with God in ways that other churches don't provide.

I sometimes think about what worship is going to be like in heaven. Will it be the somber and noble atmosphere that I witnessed in the Cathedral tonight, rich with ritual, tradition and symbolism? Will it be the exuberance of Aretha Franklin? Will it be the postmodern sound of a rock band? Will it be the singing of some good old Southern Baptist hymns? Will it feature some ritual Holy Fire? Could the sounds of Love Supreme, played by John Coltrane, make an appearance? Will we hear the St. Matthew Passion of J.S. Bach, sung by choirs of angels?

I don't know--I just hope there's a mix of it all. We're all celebrating the same thing, after all, in our own way, aren't we?

He is risen indeed.

Happy Easter, everyone.