Easter Brunch

Although we missed not being home with family for this Easter, James and I hosted a wonderful Easter brunch at our apartment with over twenty people! Our friend Lana, who lives in the dorms and couldn't host a brunch on her own, joined forces with us and we set up a beautiful spread the day before Easter. We borrowed some long tables and some chairs from the campus computer center near our apartments, and spent all afternoon cleaning, baking, and decorating for the festivities. And the Easter brunch itself was wonderful - we ate lots of good food, drank champagne and mimosas, read scripture together, and went on an egg hunt put together by Lana. And I was so excited to finally put all of our beautiful china to good use...hopefully there will be many more large and festive occasions to use it all.

Every year I am continually reminded how much I love Easter. This year in particular James and I spent some time reflecting during Holy Week on the importance of Maundy-Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and of course Easter itself. We learned in our Greek class that the term "Maundy-Thursday" came from the Latin words that mean "new commandment." This refers to the upper room discourses in the Gospel of John, where Jesus authorizes a new commandment to "love one another." There are so many little ways every day to show our families, our friends, our co-workers, and the people around us how much we love them; or, rather, the risen Christ continually works in us to transform our frustration, anger, and selfish tendencies into patience, compassion, and love of others. And so it is our prayer that Christ continues this sanctifying work in us as we celebrate the season of his Resurrection.