Easter weekend

I am a little sad that I never got anything posted over Easter. The truth of the matter is that all my energy went towards planning worship for our congregation which is likely the right use of time and energy but turns out it's hard to figure out how to post blogs! when work is bearing down on you!
We did have a fabulous celebration however, from Good Friday straight on through to Easter Sunday. The whole weekend just meant so much to me. Having missed most of Lent with our congregation, it was a bit odd just to jump right in and practically leap to the main event! But in the end, it was so awesome to be with our congregation. I planned Good Friday and felt very good about how it all turned out. The right tone was hit though the visuals, the music, and the readings. I tried something new with my preaching, breaking it up into 4 different talks after a portion of the scripture was read, and in the end, I liked it quite a lot. I divided the service into 5 significant sections: Betrayed, Sentenced, Crucified, Dead, Buried. And we left it hanging it there...hoping to give people a bit of anticipation for Sunday. We were tired afterward so spent a quiet afternoon and evening together which was also kept us in the right zone theologically.
Saturday was a day to get some things done and finish our preparations for Sunday. The weather was delightful, we took Tanner for a nice wander though the city, and enjoyed a nice dinner together at home. We went to bed early as we were eager with anticipation for celebrating the resurrection of Christ with our congregation.
We did wake up quite early on Sunday, 6.00 a.m. I posted on Facebook that Christ has risen and heard back from many American friends that it was still Saturday night in America and they were still waiting. It was pretty cool. The service Sunday was wonderful, complete with our choir singing, great music and a beautiful communion service. I was happy to be here with my church family but missing our biological families. Always the pull for me. I felt the power of Christ's resurrection through our worship and felt genuinely hopeful after our worship services.Our choir director and his 3 children came over for Easter dinner. His wife was away. One of his kids works in England and was our summer intern for a couple of summers, one is in college in England, and the other is in high school here and active in our youth group and in service to our church. They are a great family and we loved being together. Great food, amazing conversation and just a wonderful day of fellowship and fun.
It was a beautiful Easter weekend for us. I hope the same was true for you and yours.