Easter 2020, will probably be remembered by many as the Easter that wasn't. Let me explain, Easter still happened, but not in the way that many of us Born Christians would recognize. So we have had to find some creative ways to celebrate the Greatest Holy Day of the Christian Calendar.
To that end, my husband and I have been searching for ways in order to make Easter come alive again! We don't have any problem with following services on You Tube, or Facebook, but Easter calls us (personally) to dig a little deeper into our faith.
I am a Christian and not at all ashamed or embarrassed to admit it! I'm sure I'm not alone. The thing that always surprises me is that after Easter is over, many Christians think Easter is a done deal. One day, Easter Sunday and then everything goes back to "normal". (Well 2020's normal will be different than most.)
Many people don't understand that Easter Sunday is just the beginning of the Easter season. It does NOT END until 50 days later at the Feast of the Pentacost!
That gives Christians a whole 50 days to deepen their faith and strengthen their belief system.
The trouble is that you can only read the scriptures for so long and then hopefully have a good discussion on what was read. Our God speaks to each of us through these scriptures and each of us will take away lessons that are meant just for us. Each will take away a lesson that speaks to them personally, and it may not be the same message that you get! The Bible is alive and speaks to each of us in a way that we will understand in our hearts.
Being in house arrest has given us some time to look for other ways to celebrate our faith and grow at the same time.
We are so lucky that we can search out lots of different ways to celebrate our Christian Holidays. You Tube, Facebook and the Internet offer us unlimited ways to enhance our faith journey. Alan and I were blessed to spend 3 months in the Holy Land in 2018. We were there from the middle of January to the Middle of April, which just happened to be Easter of that year. What an experience that was and it still resounds with us today. If you would like to see where we lived and worked during that time here's a You Tube video about the region and why it was so important to Christians all over the world. https://youtu.be/Jcfkn9zivis
After having spent that time in Magdala, we came back home really driven to look into our faith, deeper, so that we are well informed Christians.
Now, during this time in our lives, that has us more upside down, than right side up, we are looking again for ways in which to make our faith "come alive". To that end, both of us have been trying to figure out who the person of Jesus was and who His followers were too. We have had many lively discussions on this aspect of our faith and really haven't come to any conclusions. What we see in the Scriptures can look pretty cold and too Godly or shall we say Jesus sometimes come off as unreachable. But that is not the Jesus we want to believe in, we want a Jesus that is just like us, happy, sad, funny, serious and a whole lot more....He is the Jesus we could relate to!
Thank goodness that I found a series that really delves into the "humanity" of Christ! This series has 8 episodes and each one of them is really so well done. The series holds true to the Biblical Christ, but also opens up the Humanity of him who is known as the Messiah.
I would like to share with you a link to get to this series and I'm sure that you will be moved just as I was. This series is not available on DVD or any other media other than at the APP store. I have a link for you right here. It is called The Chosen. This is an 8 part series each one is about an hour long and focuses on the beginning of Jesus' life and ministry. While following Biblical texts, there is a lot of interpretation allowed in this series.
Not only are we treated to a "human" Jesus, we are also treated to the characters who become his Apostles and Disciples. His mother and other relatives also play a role in this series. I found it to be very interesting and profoundly moving.
My hope is that you started your Easter celebrations with Cynthia Sylvestermouses' Review of Jesus of Nazareth! And I hope you continue your Easter reflections with The Chosen.
Please come back and tell me what you thought! I know for myself personally, this series was a valuable tool in more ways than one. It brought so many characters to life that I had not connected with through just reading the Scriptures. My faith is alive and new ways of understanding that faith are always welcomed. You can watch the official trailer for The Chosen right here!
**Please note: at the end of every episode there is a bit of "advertising", but you can skip that and move to the next episode easily. If you are touched by this series you can PAY IF FORWARD. But please don't feel that you must do this. I want you to enjoy this series as much as I have and that is my sole purpose in sharing this with you. I make no commissions or any other reward for sharing this with you. Happy Easter for the next 50 days at least.....
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