Tenebrae

"Just as you may never full appreciate a movie if all you see is the happy ending, you may never experience all the joy of the Easter Season without experiencing Good Friday first.  Come join us as we reflect on the grief and suspense of that day so we can all experience the joy of Easter together."

Last night, my savior died for me.  That was the focus of our Tenebrae evening.  Tenebrae is Latin for "shadows" or "darkness".  It is so incredible to imagine yourself as a disciple, to wake up this morning and feel such immeasurable hopelessness as you realize that your savior, friend, teacher, healer, leader - the son of God - died last night.  Wouldn't that shake your faith!?  It has only been in the last two years that I have fully grasped the incredible joy of Easter in realizing what the disciples must have felt that beautiful Sunday morning when they found that the tomb was empty!  All of their hope had been restored as they gained insight to the full glorious picture of God's awesome plan of salvation.

Our service last night focused on the last 7 things Christ said on the cross.  We also had a footwashing service (my first one), that we did in groups of family and friends.  Our small group, now known as "The Barbarians" (for further explaination of why we chose this name read "The Barbarian Way" by Erwin McManus - trust me you won't be disappointed!) chose to do the footwashing together, each couple washing their spouse's feet.  It was such a beautiful way to show an outward expression of my love to Neil, and I felt the same as he washed my feet. 

 We got to watch as Jon and Amanda's daughter participated in her first footwashing!  She is such a delight to be around and she did such a good job helping her parents and sitting still as her feet were washed.  She loves Neil and as I started to wash his feet, I think she wanted to come help!  Not even two years old and she already has a servant's heart :)