Happy Easter!   Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.   We had a great time at our house, when we were there!   People probably don't realize how the holidays are never really holidays for pastors.  Maundy Thursday I had a full Seder meal for the second time.  Its so much work, yet it is so meaningful understanding the symbols of the passover and how Jesus used their ancient meaning and applied it to himself.   I swore not to do it again for a few years, but then so many people came and they so appreciated it maybe. . . we'll see.  Good Friday is always difficult for me.  Its like doing a funeral for all the people you've ever known and buried as well as Jesus.  The sorrow is so overwhelming, and God's love so astounding.  It is so humbling to try and convey such depth in a 45 minute worship service! Impossible!     We had all three of our regular services for Easter, after toying with the idea of canceling Saturday night we didn't.  And I am so glad we had it!  We are keeping that service over 30 people for the past month and it is so wonderful!!

Our traditional service was also full, and our contemporary service was a surprise hit.  We had it in the fellowship hall, just a 15 minute sunrise-type service with the kids acting out the Easter story.  Then we had a wonderful brunch.  Everyone thought I was crazy in planning for 50 but we had over 40 people so it was perfect.  These numbers probably don't mean much to most churches that are larger, but it represents a growth of nearly 300% for those two services!  Thats huge to us!  After all this, I have been a blob the past couple of days, working from home to recover.    Happy Easter!!