Easter

As a family working in ministry, somehow the lead up to Easter often feels similar to finals week at the end of the semester. It’s crunch time as we gear up to serve and host more people, while also trying to make space to fully reflect on the significance, wonder, and beauty of Holy Week.  

The weekend before Easter, our church hosted a free Easter Egg Hunt for kids in Harlem. While stuff like this is a lot of work (and my job is mainly to help get the word out), it’s always really nice to meet people in our community and to see the genuine excitement the kids have to play games and hunt for eggs. And then the parents inevitably seem to be the ones who are actually excited about the kids getting photos with the Easter Bunny. And we were basically those parents. Jameson, was more interested in chewing a plastic egg.

In the week leading up to Easter, we were busy prepping for two services, instead of our usual one, with hopes that everyone new walking in the door would feel welcomed and like they could understand everything, whether it was their first or 500th time in church. Lots more promoting and talking through Jordan’s sermon illustrations. What do Muggsy Bogues, a carton of Newport cigarettes, and red pants have to do with Easter? You can listen to Jordan’s sermon to find out.

When Sunday actually came, I was so grateful to celebrate the awesome events of Easter. Our worship team sang one of my favorite songs, The Anthem, and I was a legit teary mess. God bless the friend sitting next to me who hooked me up with a few Starbucks napkins. But seriously, thinking about the hope we have in the resurrection and all of its implications for how we see God and our sorrows and our desires and our abilities and our justification is just o v e r w h e l m i n g.

With all of the prep for Easter activities at church, I wasn’t left with a lot of time to do all of the cute Easter stuff I’d hoped to do to make the holiday special for us, especially Jameson on his first Easter. In typical Jessica fashion, I dreamed up visions of baking Easter cookies and dying eggs and making Easter arrangements of flowers. And in typical Jessica fashion, I completely overestimated my ability to get any of that stuff done. :-)

Thankfully, our wonderful family came through with adorable Easter baskets and treats for Jameson. It’s an amazing feeling to know your child is so loved. If your family has any good traditions I can tuck away for next year, I’d love to hear them!

At the very least, Jameson was decked out in a spiffy little outfit, and I managed to snap a few pics to commemorate the day. I’m not exactly sure why, but I just love the photo below of Jameson. Maybe because I think he looks like a total party animal. “throw your hands in the air!” At any rate, since Easter is such a celebration, I suppose it’s perfectly fitting.
Happy Easter, friends!