Forgiven, Set Free, Renewed by Grace

Happy Easter! Do you have a favorite Easter memory?

One of mine is of sharing Easter breakfast with the members of the Youth Fellowship group when I was a teen. We met at the parsonage. Think about that a minute. It’s Easter, a busy day for pastors, and our pastor and his wife had five kids. Still, they graciously invited a bunch of teens over for Easter breakfast. I might add that some of us were dressed in our finest patent leather 1-inch pumps and some of the boys were pretty rowdy (you know who you are.)

One year, I volunteered to bring Easter Lilies, a delicacy created by my mother by baking individual sponge cakes one at a time on oven-proof saucers. This treat was just made at Easter and she usually sent small boxes of them to my sisters who couldn’t come home for the holiday.

When I told Mom I had volunteered her to make x amount for the breakfast, she had to sit down for a minute and recover from the shock, but she dutifully baked enough for the whole group. (She didn’t trust me to do the baking, but I got to help frost them and put the orange slice in.) I’m so pleased that a number of my nieces carry on the tradition of making Easter Lilies. The photo is of me holding a plate of Easter Lilies back in 1997.

This Prairie Girl is really into Easter traditions. I love Palm Sunday. On that day long ago, people were praising Jesus. The Bible says if they wouldn’t have praised Him, the very rocks would have cried out. This year on Palm Sunday our children’s pastor and a bevy of kids belted out a song that had the whole congregation standing to its feet ready to cheer, like on the original Palm Sunday.

I also read through a gospel account of the passion and resurrection of Christ. Reading about the betrayal, mock trial and death of Jesus is hard, but the bitterness of that story makes the resurrection so much more wonderful. It shows us that there is hope even in our darkest hours, when we think all is lost.

The tradition I like best is attending church on Easter morning. The earlier the better. There is an eagerness to the service, as though Jesus has just risen from the grave and we, his disciples, are coming to celebrate. I always hope we sing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today, which Charles Wesley first published in 1739. The music and words are so powerful that almost three hundred years later, I can’t sing it without being choked up.

The message of Easter is multifaceted, but it can be boiled down to this one word: Hope. Jesus Christ brings new hope for each of us. On Easter, we pause to honor our Lord because we are forgiven, set free, and renewed by grace.

So, dear readers, may you find fresh joy in the Easter message this year and don’t forget to sprinkle the holiday with some tradition. Dye eggs on Good Friday. Have some raisin sauce with your Easter dinner. If you want to make Easter Lilies, send me a message and I’ll forward the recipe.

Hebrews 10: 23 states, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.”

I’ve been working on the manuscript for the sequel to “By the Banks of Cottonwood Creek.” Several chapters relate to Easter. To see the preview of the chapter entitled The Holy Thursday Pizza Party, check out my website at www.gaylelarsonschuck.com.