Easter: It's Not Just One Day of the Liturgical Year

 

 

I thought today I would do a follow-up of our 40 day journey through Lent.  First I want to share with you a video I made of all of the doodles that I made that became my Lenten banner.

 

The second thing I want to comment on is continuing to use the doodling skills that we've talked about and I've illustrated for you during the past month and a half.  During the next 50 days, our emphasis should be on continuing the celebration of the Resurrection.  Don't forget that for 50 days, Jesus stayed on earth.  He visited the disciples countless times and continued his teaching and preparation of them for receiving the Holy Spirit.  My discipline during the "Great 50 Days of Easter" will be to sketchnote a devotional I'm reading called "Resurrection Power:  50 Days That Rocked the World: A Devotional Journey" by Rob Still.  We're only 4 days into the 50 days.  If you're not currently doing a daily devotional, consider doing this one or find something online.  If you're a worship leader that may be starting to plan in-person worship once again, think about how you can keep the Easter Resurrection celebration going and encourage your congregation to continue the celebration.

Keep watching.  I'll post bits & pieces of my sketchnotes through out the next few weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021 - Celebrate

 

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).  Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20: 16-18 

 

We have come to the end our Lenten and Holy Week journey.  Today we celebrate the risen Lord.  And just as Mary said, "I have seen the Lord."  My prayer is that during this Lenten journey that you have read these scriptures for each week's lectionary and prayed about them and how the could help you on the pathway to being able to see the Lord in a different way.  

 

This year has been an extraordinary year.  A year of grief and transition.  And just like any season of grieving, we have all gone through it differently.  Maybe you are transitioning into a new season of your life because of the changes that the pandemic has brought about.  But the important thing is to not let your life go back to normal.  What have you learned during this past year?  What have you grieved?  What have you celebrated?

 

Easter Sunday brings us new life.  So use this time to celebrate the lessons that you've learned.  We still have the next 50 days to look forward as we walk the path towards Pentecost.  Jesus has more to say and do before he ascends into heaven and sends the Holy Ghost down to anoint us.  How will you prepare yourself for the next 50 day?

 

I hope you've enjoyed this journey through Lent this year and have started a discipline of doodling or sketchnoting.  Below is my completed banner of all of my doodled words.  I will put them in order on a binder clip so that I can look back at them next year. 

 

Thank you for following my blog.  Until next time, Happy Easter.  He is risen, risen indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Holy Saturday, April 3, 2021 - Why

 

 

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;  and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, WHY are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, WHY are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 

John 20:11-15

 

 

 

 

Good Friday, Apri 2, 2021 - Reached

Finally the other disciple, who had REACHED the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)  Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

John 20:8-10

 

Today's passage from John 20 concludes the discovery of Jesus' missing body.  But this time, the disciple "saw and believed."  But what did they believed.  They believed that Jesus' body was gone.  They didn't believe (verse 9) that Jesus had been raised from the dead.  And then they left and returned to where they were staying.

 

Good Friday is the day that we relive the last hours of Jesus' life on earth.  How he went with the disciples to the garden and while he prayed, they fell asleep even though he asked them to stay alert.  Judas betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver.  He was arrested and Peter betrayed him by saying he didn't know him.  He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to die.  He was led away to Golgatha and put on a cross to die.   

It was a day of shame ... a day of pain ... a day of intense suffering ... it was an awful and terrifying day when evil and horror seemingly caused even God to forsake the world.  Jesus has REACHED the end of his earthly journey.

We started out celebrating the new covenant promised by God and walked through this Lenten journey by way of the scriptures from Genesis, Exodus, the Psalms, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and John.  Today the whole world goes dark.  It may be Friday, but Sunday's coming.

 

 

 

Holy Thursday, April 1, 2021 - Following

 

(Mary) said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.  The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, FOLLOWING him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.

John 20: 2a-7

 

This next section of John 20 tells us what happened after Mary ran back to tell the disciples what she had discovered.  We hear that Peter started out first, followed by John.  John, being the younger of the two, reached the tomb first, but waited for Peter to arrive.  Perhaps out of reverence, John waited.  But the impetuous Peter boldly charged into the tomb and discovered that the body was gone.  Also discovered in the tomb were the grave linens neatly folded.  This in itself proved that this was not a hostile taking of the body.  Their thoughts must have been that whomever took the body was respectful and out of that respect folded the linens.  This scenario was all about ritual -- the ritual of burial.

Today, we observe Holy or Maundy Thursday -- the day that Jesus shared his last meal with his disciples.  It was all about ritual -- the Passover ritual.  And it was also about being a servant -- Jesus washing the feet of his disciples as a servant would do for his master.  "The one who serves others is the greatest."  Jesus disciples had FOLLOWED him along his ministry path.  That pathway was about to lead him to its final place.  It was now time for the disciples to make their decision to continue to believe what Jesus had been telling them and follow him or go down another pathway that moved them away from him.  We know the story of what happened after the Passover meal when Judas went to the high priests and gave Jesus over to them.  We know that Jesus also told Peter that he would betray him three times before the rooster crowed.  And so, too, this is our decision -- to follow Jesus or to deny him.  Which do you choose this day?