Easter is the day I think of church the most. My grandmother was active in the program in the Catholic Church that teaches people who want to become Catholic. She often “sponsored” new members and would stand by them when they officially became members of the Church at the Easter celebration. My Grandfather was the song leader at my church growing up, so I think of them often when I think of the big church services of my youth. I remember one year, in high school, attending the long Easter mass with my grandmother and thinking, “How does she does this every year? This is torture.”
(It’s a long mass.)
This is the song I remember my grandfather singing. He died when I was in 5th grade so my memories are few and far between, but I remember him singing this song several times, and I feel like most of them were probably Easter because we didn’t go to the same service he did most Sundays. (My Dad was a morning person like I am so we went to the 8:30am service.) I thought I’d share it today, and wish all of my very supportive Christian friends and family a blessed Easter.
You all in my life, and in the life of my kids, help balance out the hatred we sometimes see in our community. My kids struggle, especially lately, with the anti-gay marriage talk in the name of Christianity. They have a hard time wondering why a church would shun their family’s right to get married. But every time they fret, I remind them of the many…MANY lovely Christians we have in our lives that support the people they love who are gay, and who would have no problem with them getting married in their church.
So, Happy Easter to all of you. You make it easy for me to speak favorably of your faith. We talk about Jesus a lot in our house, about his teachings, and it’s easy to explain the religion of his followers when I have examples in our lives of people who walk the same walk he did.
Great post. Love you sister.
Happy Easter Zoot family. Lovely post. 🙂
Lovely post. Thank you. Happy Spring to you!
Thank you for this. I’m smack in the middle of some serious skepticism, and Holy Week and Easter have been especially roller-coaster-y with the lows of holdover guilt and the highs of liberating moments of peace (I can’t believe I just said peace, but yeah–that’s progress). I can’t write about it (yet?), and I can only talk about it with maybe two people. It’s very comforting to read a voice of love and kindness and reason.
I love that song. Happy Easter!
Nikki might find my pastor’s recent blog post comforting. He suggests that even Jesus had to grow in his understanding to accept those who were different. And it was only because he interacted with and was challenged by someone of a different ethnicity that he did. (The story of the Canaanite woman who asked for healing for her daughter in both Matthew and Mark.). If even Jesus needed to be challenged to grow more accepting in his faith, is it any wonder so many others do? The best thing we can do is live openly, honestly and with love so that they see and are challenged. And, I truly believe time will heal.
Happy Easter to you and your family…
I do hope the “Bunny” was good the kids but also for you,
Easter Candy does nit have guilt, fat or calories….that’s my story and I am sticking to it
Lol
Happy Spring 🙂
(I loved your post <3
I enjoyed hearing the song you shared on your blog. I first heard that song in college at Inner Varsity Christian Fellowship and loved it. I love knowing you heard it sung by your Grandfather at Easter Mass. I heard a song at Easter that my dad use to sing at church, he was a music leader too. Wow, music can take you back. 🙂 I appreciate your families struggle and also find resolving certain issues within a Church or even the church difficult. A long time friend shared with me that when she struggles with conflicting ideas within her Church it was always her goal to stay within her Church family and be a voice for her beliefs. I admired that because it’s easy to leave in a conflict and move on and avoid the struggle but she taught me when things are important to try not give up and try to find commoness. She is a voice of love and charity in a place where that voice can be hard to hear.