Happy White Easter!

This is the first time in my memory when I found myself feeling more Christmasy than springy on Easter weekend. After all, the snowplows are out, the snowblowers are back in business, the world is glistening white from the smallest tree branch to the tallest rooftop. In church this morning, two different pastors accidently referred to today as being "Christmas." Greg introduced the morning's hymn as one we "usually sing at Christmastime." Woops. He quickly corrected himself. I remember as a child that Easter was the day we got to wear our new springy dresses, white sandals, gloves and Easter hat! Flowers were beginning to bloom and we were seriously into spring. Oh, well.

I am reminded of the song "Whiter Than Snow" and realize that the weather is truly appropriate for this season after all. Jesus' death has indeed provided a way for us to be whiter than snow.

Happy White Easter!

The Folded Burial Napkin

Someone forwarded this message to me and it's worth sharing....

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection? I never noticed this...The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb and I don't know where they have put him!"Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple out ran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.Is that important? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes! In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.

The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished.

Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done." But if the master got up from the table and folded his napkin and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table because the folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

How we look forward to that day!!

The Stolen Jacket

I almost stole a leather jacket from church tonight! Yikes! I had it on, zipped up, belt tied and was ready to go! As I walked towards the door, I stuck my hands in the pockets to pull out my gloves! What? Where did they go? Don't tell me I lost another pair of gloves. So...out the door we walked and were hit by the nasty, cold, damp, Minnesota winter. I reached up to pull my hood over my head as I recalled the warmth and protection it provided me on the way IN to church a couple of hours earlier. No hood - my leather jacket doesn't have a hood! Wait. This must not be my coat. I wore my long beige, cozy, warm jacket to church tonight! Woops. I race back to the coatrack, hang up the leather coat - that happens to be IDENTICAL to mine - size, style, brand name. My beige coat awaits me on another hangar. Whew. I can only hope that the real owner of "my" jacket didn't come looking for it during the two minutes I was being a thief!