This morning, our pastor brought his entire message while holding a baby lamb. It's bleeting as he slowly walked from the back of the congregation sent ripples of laughter and awes through the room. While he meandered among the near-capacity crowd, I tried to imagine the days of animal sacrifice when this beautiful creature would have been taken to an alter and slaughtered as a price for atonement of sins. Even harder to imagine, how the Lamb of God offered Himself to be cruicified for the sins of the world. My sins.
Just as that lamb entered a dark, cruel world, so did our Lord, Jesus.
Loved by some. Hated by many.
Here to give love and grace to a world undeserved.
He came.
He served.
He saved.
He died.
He arose.
He lives.
He is WORTHY.
"Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed." John 20:29
Christ is Risen, INDEED!
Did you know?
Easter
Major festival of the Christian church year, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion. In Western churches it falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25, depending on the date of the first full moon after the spring equinox. This time span was fixed after the Council of Nicaea (AD 325). In the Eastern Orthodox calendar, which uses a different calculation, it often falls later. A joyful festival and a time of redemption, Easter brings an end to the long period of penance that constitutes Lent. The word is sometimes said to have been derived from Eostre, a Germanic goddess of spring, but other origins of the term more closely associated with Christian traditions have been proposed. Easter has acquired a number of religious and popular customs. The Easter worship service is one of the high points of the Christian calendar, and since the late 2nd century Easter has also been a time for baptism.
The painting of eggs and tales of a rabbit who decorates and hides eggs are among the folk customs associated with the holiday.
Source: Concise Encyclopedia
The painting of eggs and tales of a rabbit who decorates and hides eggs are among the folk customs associated with the holiday.
Source: Concise Encyclopedia
Easter, originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occured at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version (1611) was formed, the word "passover" was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Act 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, "passover," is always used.
