Well, Julia has already blogged about this to some degree, but I woke up this morning with our tradition on my mind.
"I should have made fish and eggs..."
So.... here is another memory of this tradition...
When we lived in Decatur, we always had Easter Dinner with Mark, Linda and Jennifer Fischer. Their family lived in Michigan, and our families were in Sylacauga. So.... we had Easter Dinner at their house. Jennifer would hide eggs with my children... Linda cooked a wonderful meal. OHHHH what precious memories. We were family. And we were together at Easter.
Then we moved to Griffin Georgia. So, they just came to Griffin for Easter. That is what families do. That was when I started this family tradition. Good Friday - we had a Galilean Meal for breakfast. And the first few years - it was not fish sticks (as Julia mentioned in her blog)- it was broiled fish with scrambled eggs, wheat or rye rolls and orange juice.
So... picture this.... I did not tell them the menu for the morning. I just got up early and began cooking and making preparations. This particular year, it was raining...so we were not able to have the camp fire outside. So, I put a large tablecloth in the middle of the living room floor and put every candle that I could find in the middle. That would be our camp fire.
Can you just see it? They begin waking up to the smell of broiled fish.... yummmmm. And as they came down the hall, there was a table cloth in the middle of the floor with about 20 candles burning in the middle. I will never forget the look on Linda's face, as she came around the corner, and asked me,"DEEDEE.... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I just politely told her that we were having a Galilean meal for breakfast. It was Good Friday.
And the tradition began.... I never wanted to get so caught up in the clothes, and the baskets, and the eggs, and the meals.... that we missed the real meaning of Easter. Now, I loved the preparations... and I loved getting the clothes and baskets and eggs and meals all ready. But that was not the point. The most important facts to remember - that our Savior suffered, and bled, and died for our sins - that his blood covers us and makes us white as snow - that the grave could not hold him - that He arose. He arose. He arose! That is the point.
And Good Friday is a good day to remember the price that He paid. Salvation is free but it is not cheap.
I want to close with a quote from Max Lucado's book, He Chose the Nails.(p 34) So, why don't you just find a large concrete spike (nail) and press it into the palm of your hand as your read this. May we never forget the price that he paid for our sins.
"What kept him from resisting? ...This tabulation of your failures. He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails.
The hand squeezing the handle was not a infantryman.
The force behind the hammer was not an angry mob.
The verdict behind the death was not decided by jealous Jews.
Jesus himself chose the nails.
So the hands of Jesus opened up. Had the soldier hesitated, Jesus himself would have swung the mallet. As a carpenter he knew what it took. And as a Savior he knew what it meant. He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his scarifice and covered by his blood.
So, Jesus himself swung the hammer.
The same hand that stilled the seas stills your guilt.
The same hand that cleansed the Temple cleanses your heart.
The hand is the hand of God.
The nail is the nail of God.
As the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you."
Good Friday.... It is about death - death on a cross. It is about life - life everlasting.
And by the way, Jonathan got on to me this morning, because Hal and I did not have a Galilean meal for breakfast. So we had fish tonight for supper. It was not the same...
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Celebration comes on Sunday! I have always loved the quote from Tony Campolo,
"It's Friday - but Sunday is coming!"
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