Death and Rebirth: Easter Ponderings

So, Palm Sunday I didn't feel well. Actually, for several days before that I wasn't feeling very good: stress headaches, migraines, insomnia followed by nightmares... my emotions clearly had the upper hand, and I was quietly freaking right out, which is not my norm; my best friend once laughingly observed that I tend to be "a drama-free zone". And I do try. But last week I had drama enough that it made me ill.

So Palm Sunday. One of the things about a lay clergy is that sometimes everything is beautiful and perfect, and other times we get to exercise charity and patience. Don't get me wrong; the talks were excellent: one even successfully managed to relate fishing for eel in New Zealand rivers to following the prophet and the Lord; outstanding talk, the kind that people will remember and benefit from for a long time. But every speaker overlooked that it was Palm Sunday; it wasn't mentioned until the classes after Sacrament Meeting. And I was so hungry for a deep dive into the Atonement of Christ; I needed His healing: it had been a tough week --and the next day I was going to dig up my basement.

It felt like breaking my sanctuary: if life is like tag, my home is "safe". Only, it didn't feel very "safe" anymore. It felt broken. That's what I would tell people: "We're breaking the basement."

"I hope your week is less interesting than mine," I said to the guy at the rental place where we got the concrete saw and the mini jackhammer they called a "breaker" (that saw was HUGE). And he laughed, which was the intended effect. But I was whistling in the dark: it wasn't really funny to me. I was trying to put the best face on something that pulled me way out of my comfort zone.

Drive Thru History: Bible History {Crew Review}

When we had the opportunity to review Drive Thru History Adventures, my first questions were about theological compatibility, as these are, I believe, Protestant-made materials. I was pleased to find that the Bible History Adventures materials draw on the shared Christian tradition, and that the theological variances between Protestants and Mormons are not an issue in any of the lessons we have done thus far. We have really enjoyed learning about the life of Christ, and the history and geography that relates to His ministry in the Holy Land.  Drive Thru History Adventures also has an Ancient History and an American History course (other Crew members are checking those out). But we've been quite enjoying the Bible History course.

Teaching the Passover

It's been a zoo of a week: everyone is a touch under the weather, and our roof is leaking. (Someone's coming tomorrow to help us figure out a fix for that lovely issue.) I'm hoping tomorrow will have enough room in it to teach Monkey about the Passover, since my history schedule is ambitious, and requires that we start learning other stuff next week. So, tonight I'm trying to gather up some stuff to teach about the Passover. It's interesting. Very interesting. One great thing about teaching is all the cool things I get to learn. For instance:

Heart of Wisdom has this cool .pdf that they've shared. I've actually only read about 8 pages so far, but those first eight pages include a great chart of ways that the Passover lamb symbolizes Christ, as well as some fascinating commentary on symbolism in the plagues. Heat of Wisdom has also shared a little Passover booklet and a nice one for the 10 Plagues that we'll be adding to our lapbook.

I also spent some time browsing around at LDS.org, and they've got some good stuff there. For instance, Passover - Was It Symbolic of His Coming? has some great observations about the phrase, "meridian of time" and other things dealing with time, as well as actual Passover symbolism. Moses and the Passover has a little simpler explanation, which may be better suited to Monkey, though he surprises me often enough with the things he can understand! This coloring sheet from the Friend may be just what we need for the front cover of our book. 

Then, it's back to Heart of Wisdom for another lapbook component, God Leads His People, which deals with the pillar of fire and cloud.

 

Christmas Planning

It's not that long, and Christmas will be here, crazy as that seems. We're making our lists of gifts, and I'm figuring out what I need to make, what I need to buy, and we should probably think about getting our cards ready so we can get them out in the near future. I know from past years that Christmas cards are much more fun if you send them out early: we get many more back the years we do it early. Plus, it's much less stressful.

But all that is secondary to the real meaning of Christmas, and to the things we ought to be thinking about during the Christmas season. It seems like every year we reexamine our traditions to see if they are still serving us well, and tweak them a little bit. This year is no different. I ran across a very thoughtful post, over at The Apple Cider Mill.

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Advent literally means "coming," and it is a four-week season that precedes Christmas. It is meant to be a season of penitence, reflection, and fasting, but as we all know, this is hardly the tenor or focus of the four weeks that precede Christmas for most people. Usually, the season of Advent can be categorized for contemporary Americans by business, exorbitance, indulgence, and stress. Many Christians try to step back from the temptation to follow the crowd in this regard, but all too often what they end up with is a period of time that doesn't feel preparatory; it merely feels ordinary. We know that we don't want the weeks before Christmas to feel "ordinary," and so we feel torn between cutting back and giving into the secular siren call. In either case, how we usually feel by the time Christmastide rolls around is exhausted and dissatisfied.

Advent provides a wonderful balance. It is not ordinary time; it is a season set apart in anticipation of the great feast and celebration of Chistmas to come. The very penitent nature of the season prepares us to surrender completely to the celebration of Emmanuel, God with us. The more we surrender to Advent, the more our hearts will be ready to receive the gift of the Christ Child, just as Lent prepares our hearts for the gift of our Resurrected Lord.

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Now we, not being Catholic, don't celebrate Lent. But I think that she's onto something here. There is merit to the idea of planning, and her analogy about preparing for a baby coming (see the next quote) is an interesting one. I don't know that I want to separate "Advent" into its own season, but I can understand why she does and I think that we can take from the ideas. Actually, when you explain Lent like this, there may be more to it than I was previously aware of. I'd never had a good Catholic explain what it's all about before, and it never made a lot of sense to me. There is reverence and beauty in the symmetry of Bethany's celebration of Advent and Lent.

She has several suggestions for how to go about celebrating Advent - that is, how to focus on Christ during the Christmas season. I like quite a few of them. The first thing that Bethany suggests is an attitude adjustment.

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Remember that Advent is a season of PREPARATION for Christmas. Advent is not Christmas. This distinction may look different in different homes; it's the principle that counts. So start thinking about how your Advent can differ from you Christmastide.

For those who think Christmas just comes of its own accord and requires no preparation, I offer the analogy of a birth in the family. Of course, the baby is going to come at the end of gestation whether you prepare for it or not, but you do prepare. You go to lamaze classes, you set up a nursery, you pray, you reflect, you journal, you anticipate. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Christ. Moreover, we are looking forward with hope to His Second Coming. He's going to come, anyway, of course. But, it will be better for us if we're ready for the celebration!

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Go read the rest of her post. It's got some cool ideas for creating a lovely Christmas season and filling your home with the spirit of Christ.

One of Bethany's friends tried to leave her a post-length comment, which blogger wouldn't accept because it was too long. The friend emailed it instead, and Bethany posted it. It has some more great ideas, including this that would be great for the season:

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If you like classical music, there are so many wonderful pieces written for the celebration of Advent. Start with Bach's Cantata BWV 140. Read a translation of the text first (it's in German) and then listen to the cantata (really sit down and LISTEN without doing anything else - if you are out walking with your ipod, or riding in your car, it doesn't count...) and meditate on what the music and the text say about Christ, our relationship to him, and his second coming.

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An interesting thing that I notice in both these women's writing is the intertwining of not only Easter and Christmas themes, but also, within the Christmas celebration, an awareness of the Second Coming, and excitement about that. What a cool idea! Bethany's friend had some good ideas for this as well.

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Speaking of the second coming, which I was a few points ago, because Advent is a time of preparing to celebrate Christ's first coming (incarnation) as well as looking forward in anticipation and preparation for the second coming, I like to use Advent as a time to study parables about the kingdom of heaven and Bible texts about the wedding feast that is to come. Start with the story of the virgins and the oil, and go from there.

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