Friday, April 14, 2006
Can you feel the love tonight? - Elton John
It's Good Friday.
Well, i think it is. It should be. I checked the calender. I confirmed with my flatmates. I note the special activities.
But it just doesn't feel like it! And i've been wondering why...
Why does it seem like any ordinary week? Why dun i feel all overcome wif emotion? Why am i so numb over the whole thing?
And that led me thinking of why do we need this... this weekend in the first place? Our Lord instituted the breaking of bread feast for us to remember him til he comes. And we Christians (esp the brethren) have been doing that on a regular basis. So why do we need this Easter weekend for? It sure wasn't commanded - nor even suggested - by our Lord!
It would be really sad for us Christians if we only feel his love and get touched by his sacrifice at this one time in the whole year! Out of all the over 300 hundred days, it'll be truly pathetic if we only remember our Lord and his sufferings over one weekend.
So why bother?
And why was i so excited in the past at this point of time? Funnily, the answer came to me as i was typing out this post.
Easter is and has always been a good opportunity to tell others about what our Lord has done for us - and for them! It's not meant for us - at least, personally, it's not meant for some selfish feel-good inward looking thingy. It's an excellent chance for us to bring the message to others - to start talking to them about the true meaning of Easter. To explain why did Jesus had to come and die on the cross.
"Would you like to come to my church this weekend to watch a perfromance and listen to a sermon?"
"Nah... not really..."
"Hey, it's Easter and we're having a special Easter meeting for everyone. You wanna come?"
"Easter? Oh yeah. Well... hhmmm... why not?"
"Do you wanna know why Jesus came to...?"
"No. Nothing about this Jesus, ok?"
"Hey, it's Easter. Do you know the real reason why we celebrate Easter?"
"The birth of the Easter Bunny??? I dun know. You tell me!"
I'm not saying that Easter can be a trick that we use - but i guess people generally will be more open at this time - just like during Christmas when everyone suddenly wants to attend a Christmas service. And welcome them we will! Share with them we should too!
Easter performance back home in 2004
Wow - what started out as an instropective look at meself turned out to be rather preachy...
I guess wat i wanna say is that as we celebrate Good Friday and Easter, let us as recipients of the wonderful gift of grace not keep it to ourselves as that is not what we're meant to do. Let us be touched afresh with his love and spread it to others. I'm telling meself this too!
This morning, we were all awoken by the fire alarm. In my half awaken state, i willed it to be Tuesday - the day when they test the alarm for a couple of seconds. After a long period of time, i knew it wasn't the normal "Tuesday-testing" alarm. Took me another few more seconds before i remembered it's Good Friday - and then made the conclusion that today was Friday! So the alarm was real! Aarrgghh.... I slowly got up, put on me shoes, hoping that it (the alarm, not the shoe) would go off and i'd dive right back into bed. It din.
When we got down and out, i noticed one of me flatmate is not down there. Prolly ignored it.
And that is a good illustration of wat we have to do - sound the alarm. It's up to the others if they wanna take heed of it or not.
* Pic at the top of post is of a flag flying at half-mast above the library building yesterday. Wonder what was that all about but thought it was kinda appropriate as we remember the Lord's crucifixion.
Well, i think it is. It should be. I checked the calender. I confirmed with my flatmates. I note the special activities.
But it just doesn't feel like it! And i've been wondering why...Why does it seem like any ordinary week? Why dun i feel all overcome wif emotion? Why am i so numb over the whole thing?
And that led me thinking of why do we need this... this weekend in the first place? Our Lord instituted the breaking of bread feast for us to remember him til he comes. And we Christians (esp the brethren) have been doing that on a regular basis. So why do we need this Easter weekend for? It sure wasn't commanded - nor even suggested - by our Lord!
It would be really sad for us Christians if we only feel his love and get touched by his sacrifice at this one time in the whole year! Out of all the over 300 hundred days, it'll be truly pathetic if we only remember our Lord and his sufferings over one weekend.
So why bother?
And why was i so excited in the past at this point of time? Funnily, the answer came to me as i was typing out this post.
Easter is and has always been a good opportunity to tell others about what our Lord has done for us - and for them! It's not meant for us - at least, personally, it's not meant for some selfish feel-good inward looking thingy. It's an excellent chance for us to bring the message to others - to start talking to them about the true meaning of Easter. To explain why did Jesus had to come and die on the cross.
"Would you like to come to my church this weekend to watch a perfromance and listen to a sermon?"
"Nah... not really..."
"Hey, it's Easter and we're having a special Easter meeting for everyone. You wanna come?"
"Easter? Oh yeah. Well... hhmmm... why not?"
"Do you wanna know why Jesus came to...?"
"No. Nothing about this Jesus, ok?"
"Hey, it's Easter. Do you know the real reason why we celebrate Easter?"
"The birth of the Easter Bunny??? I dun know. You tell me!"
I'm not saying that Easter can be a trick that we use - but i guess people generally will be more open at this time - just like during Christmas when everyone suddenly wants to attend a Christmas service. And welcome them we will! Share with them we should too!
Easter performance back home in 2004
Wow - what started out as an instropective look at meself turned out to be rather preachy...
I guess wat i wanna say is that as we celebrate Good Friday and Easter, let us as recipients of the wonderful gift of grace not keep it to ourselves as that is not what we're meant to do. Let us be touched afresh with his love and spread it to others. I'm telling meself this too!
This morning, we were all awoken by the fire alarm. In my half awaken state, i willed it to be Tuesday - the day when they test the alarm for a couple of seconds. After a long period of time, i knew it wasn't the normal "Tuesday-testing" alarm. Took me another few more seconds before i remembered it's Good Friday - and then made the conclusion that today was Friday! So the alarm was real! Aarrgghh.... I slowly got up, put on me shoes, hoping that it (the alarm, not the shoe) would go off and i'd dive right back into bed. It din.
When we got down and out, i noticed one of me flatmate is not down there. Prolly ignored it.
And that is a good illustration of wat we have to do - sound the alarm. It's up to the others if they wanna take heed of it or not.
* Pic at the top of post is of a flag flying at half-mast above the library building yesterday. Wonder what was that all about but thought it was kinda appropriate as we remember the Lord's crucifixion.
# posted by imissw : 1:14:00 pm
