today we awoke to a very disappointed jude,
"guess what? .... the easter bunny didn't leave us any easter baskets!"
"really? i don't think you looked hard enough." we said.
"i looked everywhere, the kitchen, the living room, the table..."
"what about your bedroom?"
he runs out of our room.
"ohhhh, that's my easter basket."
today my kids couldn't find their easter baskets- they actually walked over them- because they lacked the colored tinfoil wrapping and the cellophane straw- it was just some regular candy in a regular basket, with some homemade 'peeps' (about which bryn asked, "did you color some marshmallows with my crayons?").
it is easter in uganda!
here the holiday is much less obscured by chocolate bunnies and jelly beans, because it's more about the cross, the resurrection, and the promise fullfilled.
and i think maybe because here, a loving God is more important than colored eggs. when death is closer, when illness, accidents, and violence are very present, and suffering is normal, when poverty and loss are routine; there is no illusion of control. it is not hard to admit that we need God- not chocolate.
but for all that need, for the mass of sorrows, the joy is abundant. i mean- really- could we please take a lesson in praise from the african church? today my favorite part of the service was the time allotted to "praise the Lord with dance". two women on stage shaking it for Jesus -to the sound of african hymns. now that is joyful. now that is easter.
and this is the easter season.
in this season, i want to remember what kathleen norris says about prayer; that 'prayer is not asking for what you think want, but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine.' i want to pray that way. i want to be changed in ways i can't imagine.
for these 40 days, the days of God showing up- days of fulfillment, i want to keep my eyes open, to look for Him, to give Him my hand and ask him to walk with me as i stumble along.
"God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
Nearby is a country they call life.
You will know it by it's seriousness.
Give me your hand."
Rainer Marie Rilke
happy Easter!!
"guess what? .... the easter bunny didn't leave us any easter baskets!"
"really? i don't think you looked hard enough." we said.
"i looked everywhere, the kitchen, the living room, the table..."
"what about your bedroom?"
he runs out of our room.
"ohhhh, that's my easter basket."
today my kids couldn't find their easter baskets- they actually walked over them- because they lacked the colored tinfoil wrapping and the cellophane straw- it was just some regular candy in a regular basket, with some homemade 'peeps' (about which bryn asked, "did you color some marshmallows with my crayons?").
it is easter in uganda!
here the holiday is much less obscured by chocolate bunnies and jelly beans, because it's more about the cross, the resurrection, and the promise fullfilled.
and i think maybe because here, a loving God is more important than colored eggs. when death is closer, when illness, accidents, and violence are very present, and suffering is normal, when poverty and loss are routine; there is no illusion of control. it is not hard to admit that we need God- not chocolate.
but for all that need, for the mass of sorrows, the joy is abundant. i mean- really- could we please take a lesson in praise from the african church? today my favorite part of the service was the time allotted to "praise the Lord with dance". two women on stage shaking it for Jesus -to the sound of african hymns. now that is joyful. now that is easter.
and this is the easter season.
in this season, i want to remember what kathleen norris says about prayer; that 'prayer is not asking for what you think want, but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine.' i want to pray that way. i want to be changed in ways i can't imagine.
for these 40 days, the days of God showing up- days of fulfillment, i want to keep my eyes open, to look for Him, to give Him my hand and ask him to walk with me as i stumble along.
"God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
Nearby is a country they call life.
You will know it by it's seriousness.
Give me your hand."
Rainer Marie Rilke
happy Easter!!
