Easter Celebration

Celebrating Easter for the Sarkisians always means worship, fellowship and family.  

This year, however, our extended families celebrated in their respective towns so we looked to our friends to fill that void. 

Afterall, the friends God has grafted into our lives have have become like family.  And I  especially feel that my Christian girlfriends are my sisters.  For we share clothes, trade recipes, share heartbreaks and tears, carry each other's burdens, and have spontaneous fits of laughter.  One such 'sister', Caroline, heard that we were family-less and instantly scooped us up into their Easter Feast and Egg Hunt extravaganza!

                Oliver has developed an adorable affection for Kate Dewey.  She and her sister Allison come over every Monday to play while their Mom, Shelby, Angie and I have a Bible Study.                                                      Ollie gets Kate to carry him around and make snacks and he literally runs to greet her when they arrive.

After torturing the Dewey's collection of Guinea Pigs, we headed to the backyard for soccer, basketball, and silliness.

Jordyn Dewey has been a favorite babysitter for years and she makes Jayden feel like a best friend.

Jack and Meagan Jones often help their parents, Bonnie and Flemming, in Jayden's Sunday School class.  And Meagan will be traveling with me (and a few other women) to India this year.

Marty, Jeff and Flemming hid well over 100 eggs in the Dewey's front yard, and after a quick photo everyone under 18 raced outside to hunt for plastic treasures and sweet treats.

MARK 3:33-35

A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You."

 Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"

 Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!

 "For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."

Who do we dine with?

 MARK 2:15-17

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  when the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples:   "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 

On hearing this, Jesus said to them,  "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

So often people step foot inside a church building and immediately feel condemned.  Even I have taken a seat in a worship service and wrestled the sensation that I am the only messed-up fool in the crowd.  

Everyone else is smiling, well-dressed, articulate, educated.  The appearance of normality, and the quick "how are you"/ "I'm great" banter isolates me within the knowledge of my sinful reality. 

I step foot inside our church building and immediately feel the awesomeness of a Holy God and my utter dependence of His power to do the meekest task in a good way.  I have for years felt like the only "sinner" I know.  

This is not true, of course!  And this passage in Mark reminds me that being a 'sinner' doesn't mean I cannot be near Jesus.  Being a 'sinner' is actually the RSVP that puts my name on the guest list to dine with Him.

For Thought

"Christian faith is not neurotic dependency but childlike trust.  We do not have a God who forever indulges our whims but a God whom we trust with our destinies."

Eugene Peterson