I'll admit, I'm excited too... But not just for Easter. I feel like we're forgetting something amid the plastic eggs, Jelly beans, and plush bunny rabbits.
We forget the real story.
A story not easily rendered in pastels on a greeting card.
A story of pain, betrayal, torture and surrender.
That's why I don't just go to church on Easter morning when everything is bright and happy and the tomb is empty.
And that is why I present to you Holy Week.... in four clips of the Liturgy.
I go to church on Maundy Thursday, when Jesus gives us the greatest gift of all-- His own Body... Before wailing in the garden and being taken to be tried.
I will watch as the altar, formerly draped with the purple of Lent, is stripped of all color and left bare.
I will be in church the following night when we read the text of His Holy Passion, and remember everything He did to win us back from the Devil.
I will hear the symbolic closing of the tomb, and leave in blackness and silence, just like John and the Virgin Mary left the tomb 2,000 years ago.
I will be in church again on Saturday as we hold a wake over the tomb, reading the promises and begging for the Light of Christ to shine again.
I light my candle in the hope that Christ has overcome death, hell and the devil.... and will help me overcome.
Then,
I will return on Sunday, filled with joy, and we will pronounce,
"He is risen!
Alleluia, He is risen indeed!"
I pray that all of you have a blessed Holy Week, and wonderful Easter!
I'm so excited to be able to be a part of this cover reveal! You may remember that I featured Tricia Mingerink's Blades of Acktar series in my Top Five Books of 2017 post.... read that here.
So... when I heard that she was releasing a new book... the beginning of a new series, I was beyond excited.
And now, we have a cover image and a description!
Here it is!
Isn't it pretty?!
About the book:
A prince cursed to sleep.
A princess destined to wake him.
A kingdom determined to stop them.
High Prince Alexander has been cursed to a sleep like unto death, a curse that will end the line of the high kings and send the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia into chaos. With his manservant to carry his luggage and his own superior intelligence to aid him, Alex sets off to find one of the Fae and end his curse one way or another.
A hundred years later, Princess Rosanna learns she is the princess destined by the Highest King to wake the legendary sleeping prince. With the help of the mysterious Daemyn Rand, can she find the courage to finish the quest as Tallahatchia wavers on the edge of war?
One curse connects them. A hundred years separate them. From the rushing rivers of Tallahatchia’s mountains to the hall of the Highest king himself, their quests will demand greater sacrifice than either of them could imagine.
Release Date: May 28, 2018
About the author:
Tricia Mingerink is a twenty-something, book-loving, horse-riding country girl. She lives in Michigan with her family and their pack of pets. When she isn’t writing, she can be found pursuing backwoods adventures across the country.
To make things even more exciting, Tricia Mingerink is going to be co-hosting a blog tour from May 22 to 28 with Sarah Addison-Fox to celebrate the release of both of their latest books. Her next book Dissociate releases May 22. More details about blog tour will be coming in April.
I am a proudly confessional, liturgical, historical, Biblical Lutheran. I sing out of the Lutheran Service Book each Sunday, use Luther's Morning Prayer almost every day, sing A Mighty Fortress with gusto and cross myself obsessively.
I am also a Lutheran in the eyes of people.... that must mean I take liturgically colored gelatin cubes to potlucks, adore tuna noodle casserole (I mean hotdish), drink lots of black coffee, have German ancestors, and, of course, hate change.
Thus, the famous Lutheran joke....
How Many Lutherans Does it Take To Change a Lightbulb?
Answer:
CHANGE!?!?!
Or, this alternative answer.....
Enough to create a Light Bulb Committee to address these topics:
1) determine first if they need a new light bulb
2) If they determine they need one.... debate if it is worth the change
3) Research different light bulbs and present their findings to the church council who can make a recommendation for the congregational vote in November.
4) determine if they need a "change the light bulb team" to help turn the ladder while someone holds the bulb.
5) Arrange a service of dedication for the new light bulb
6) propose to the budget committee an estimated yearly cost for keeping the new bulb lit (which will ultimately be cut from the budget in 2012)
7) Find an appropriate Martin Luther quote about light to put on the bulletin the first Sunday of the new bulb so everyone knows what "Luther would have thought about a new light bulb"
8) call the seminary to make sure it is not unconfessional to use a light bulb that may have been made by Baptists.
9) seek out private donors in order to avoid a capital campaign fund to afford a new bulb.
10) Have church split because the largest donor's great-great grandfather donated theoriginal light bulb 50 years ago.
There's just one problem. I am a devoted, happy Lutheran who is mostly of Scotch-Irish and Cherokee background, with maybe four splashes of German and a bit of English. I speak with a drawl, eat fried okra, chicken livers, pecan pie and sweet iced tea. I don't drink coffee. And, most scandalously of all...
I prefer the front of the church, not the back pew.
But, really, let's be honest.
The Garrison Keillor, "Lutfisk, hotdishes, coffee and Jell-o Lutherans".... are dying.
Baptized membership in my denomination, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, is down by 2 percent.
Communicant membership is down by 1.5 percent.
None of the American Lutheran denominations are growing.... all of them are either holding steady of shrinking.
But all is not lost.
In 1910, 93% of the world's Christians were in Europe or the Americas.
Only 1.4 percent were in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Now, 23% of the Christians in the world are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In 1910, 4.5% were in Asia/Pacific.... now it's 13 percent.
Technically, the US still has the most Christians.... followed by Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Philippines, Nigeria, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany and Ethiopia.
But, counting Christians in China is notoriously hard, and most of the sources I read figured that in all reality, China is probably the country with the most Christians.
Nigeria has twice as many Christians as Germany.
Brazil has twice as many Catholics as Italy.
And....
There are THREE TIMES as many Lutherans in Africa as in the US and Canada combined!
Of the 17 countries with more than a half a million Lutherans....
6 are African,
3 are Asian.
There are three African Churches that have more members individually than the LCMS.... The church in Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Tanzania.
The fast growing Lutheran Church... also one of the fastest growing the in world... is the Mekane Yesus church of Ethiopia.
The other thing it keep in mind is this--
Not only are African Lutherans gaining more converts... the age of marriage is lower, and the number of children per woman is higher.
Acording to this map, most of the countries experiencing the most Lutheran growth have an average of at least 5 children per woman.
And, this list tells us that most Africans are marrying in their early twenties or even late teens.
It's not a bad church growth policy to think about!
So, no, the typical Lutheran is no longer a German eating hot dishes... or a Swede eating lefse.
It's a Ethiopian eating Injera, or a Malagasy eating romazava.
All together now!
"Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world,
Red and Yellow, Black and White,
They are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world!"
Hello, down there!
Up here....
I'm the one in the tower!
No, you can't come up here.... it's too dangerous.
Nothing like that! The stairs are perfectly well maintained.... it's too dangerous for me.
Well, you see if you came up here, I might have to let down my carefully constructed walls, and be vulnerable. I can't do that. Someone might hurt me.
Of course people have done that before! That's why I came up here in the first place.
Let me explain. You see, people don't really want to see your true self, they want to see the neat and clean version. They don't want to get the pain from my heart dumped into their arms.... that's called oversharing. They don't want to be forced to respond to cries of grief that don't have answers.
You think I'm cynical? Well, I probably am.
But it's safer this way!
I've seen it! I'm just working off of experiences..... Just basing things off of real life.
No, I do let some people in.... some of the time..... After a they've had a background check, passed the SAT, and found the Holy Grail. Then I let them in.
You think I'm missing out? Well, I don't think so. I mean, I'm lonely, and a lot of the time I wonder why I feel so isolated, but I know it's for the best.
It's safer this way.
No, I do leave sometimes! I leave on occasion, when properly attired in Kevlar, combat boots, and a full face mask. No, it doesn't help with making friends, but.....
It's safer this way.
Oh, no, I've never had problems letting Jesus into my tower, I just make sure I've cleaned everything from top to bottom first. Can't have the Son of God in here without sterilizing everything first.
I wonder sometimes if people realize there's more to this girl than what they see. All they see is the crisp, clear put together me. What would happen if they saw the hurting, struggling, raw me. But they probably would recoil in horror.
It's safer this way.
Of course, it's possible that they would help me, listen to me, share advice and gift me with prayers..... but they also might gossip about me, or think I'm not strong... or leave me sitting in my tears....
It's safer this way.
You say that you promise to listen to me? You say that I can't say anything that will scare you off? Prove it!
But, I can't come down.... it's too scary.
Yes, I suppose you can come up here... But let me clean up first.
I don't have to Clorox everything before you come up? But then you'd see the mess.... you'd see that I don't have everything together.
That's the point?
Well..... I suppose you can come up here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, here it is.... I know it's messy and covered in pain....
You don't care?
Nobody's ever said that before.
What's that?
Oh. I painted that a while back... it's not very good...
You like it? You're just flattering me.
You look serious....
Come down?! Show other people my art? But, that painting is my soul in canvas and oil paint! I can't! They'll laugh at it!
I guess I could try. But if it hurts I'm coming straight back here!
~~~~~~~~~~
Who are all these people?
They want to help me? I'm not sure I deserve the help and friendship of all of these people.
Well....here goes nothing......
They like it! They really like it!
Hey.... thanks... I needed to do this.
Do you know if there's a cottage down here I could rent?
