Easter is the HIGHEST holiday in Christianity.
We started our Easter observance with Lent, and that seems like ages ago. More recently we have noticed that lots of folks here decorate for Easter with colored feathers.
Holy week has been good. Monday at noon, we had prayer at Mid-Sweden U. That is the pastoral "we" because only I attended. Thursday noon, it was the same, except Tobias came to prayer. I had expected Holy Week campus prayer to be especially popular, but what do I know?
The Swedes take holidays seriously. Thursday we were supposed to knock off work at 3 PM, Friday is a holiday as is Monday! Schools are out the whole week after Easter!
Wednesday night we had our Congregational prayer. Anna, Pastor Bertil, and me... in other words the usual suspects.
Easter Eve at 11PM Brenda woke me to hear a cacophony ( or maybe it was a tintinnabulation) of bell-ringing!!
BUT, the Maundy Thursday service was well attended. Afterward we had ficka with our friends, Bertil and Anna Ahman, and Evelina (Amanda was away and Sondra was ill). The Good Friday service was at "the Big Kyrka (Church)" downtown and featured beautiful music. Good Friday evening was a terrific concert, on the order of "The Messiah", but an Easter version. Brenda and I were surprised to hear ENGLISH songs interspersed. (When have you heard Swedish songs interspersed in a U.S. concert?).
Easter Candy is popular here, just as in the USA.
This Easter I have been giving extra thought to the sequence of events surrounding the Crucifixion of The Christ. I made a long post on Facebook arguing that the actual crucifixion was on Thurs, with the burial on Friday. Does it matter?
No, the day is NOT nearly as important as the TRUTH and MEANING of the crucifixion. Paying attention to the most important event in human history seems worth the time.
We have taken some time to contemplate this GREAT EVENT, and invite you to do so as well (whether you are interested in the exact day of the week or not).
We started our Easter observance with Lent, and that seems like ages ago. More recently we have noticed that lots of folks here decorate for Easter with colored feathers.
Holy week has been good. Monday at noon, we had prayer at Mid-Sweden U. That is the pastoral "we" because only I attended. Thursday noon, it was the same, except Tobias came to prayer. I had expected Holy Week campus prayer to be especially popular, but what do I know?
The Swedes take holidays seriously. Thursday we were supposed to knock off work at 3 PM, Friday is a holiday as is Monday! Schools are out the whole week after Easter!
Wednesday night we had our Congregational prayer. Anna, Pastor Bertil, and me... in other words the usual suspects.
Easter Eve at 11PM Brenda woke me to hear a cacophony ( or maybe it was a tintinnabulation) of bell-ringing!!
BUT, the Maundy Thursday service was well attended. Afterward we had ficka with our friends, Bertil and Anna Ahman, and Evelina (Amanda was away and Sondra was ill). The Good Friday service was at "the Big Kyrka (Church)" downtown and featured beautiful music. Good Friday evening was a terrific concert, on the order of "The Messiah", but an Easter version. Brenda and I were surprised to hear ENGLISH songs interspersed. (When have you heard Swedish songs interspersed in a U.S. concert?).
This Easter I have been giving extra thought to the sequence of events surrounding the Crucifixion of The Christ. I made a long post on Facebook arguing that the actual crucifixion was on Thurs, with the burial on Friday. Does it matter?
No, the day is NOT nearly as important as the TRUTH and MEANING of the crucifixion. Paying attention to the most important event in human history seems worth the time.
We have taken some time to contemplate this GREAT EVENT, and invite you to do so as well (whether you are interested in the exact day of the week or not).
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