In Remembrance of Me

   This Sunday is Palm Sunday and the next one is Easter. I am amazed at God's precision in the way He planned the events in the Jewish calendar to coincide with the life of Jesus. Passover was instituted centuries before Jesus was born but it was full of symbolism. The lamb, the foods, and the four cups of wine all pointed to the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. Jesus died at the time of the Passover and rose on Easter. The Jews still observe Passover while Christians observe Easter. One points to death of Christ while the other celebrates eternal life.

   We will observe communion on Easter morning. Jesus instituted communion while eating the Passover meal with His disciples just before His death. In the Seder (Passover meal), three pieces of bread are placed in a bag that has three chambers, one piece into each chamber of the bag (three in one). The bread placed in the first chamber is never touched, never used, never seen. It represents the Father. The third bread is used to eat the meal and represents the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

 The second bread is broken in half at the beginning of the Seder; half of it is placed back in the bag, and the other half is wrapped in a linen cloth and hidden until the end of the main course when it is found by a child. The Jews say the three breads represent Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but they can’t explain why they break Isaac in half. We can. It represents the Son whose body was broken, buried, and resurrected. When the hidden half is found, it is broken into pieces, distributed and eaten by everyone. It was at this point, Jesus said: “Take and eat; this is My body” (Luke 22:19). The bread we eat at communion is in memory of His broken, buried, and resurrected body.

   The four cups of wine drunk at various times during the Passover each have a special significance. They represent four promises God made to Israel in Exodus 6:6-7, but each also has a spiritual application to us today.

1.    The first cup of wine is called the cup of sanctification

It is to commemorate the promise: “I will bring you out.”

2.      The second cup is called the cup of plagues

It reflects the plagues that came upon Egypt – and relates to the second promise: “I will free you from being slaves.”

3.      The third cup is called the cup of redemption

God said: “I will redeem you.”

4.      The fourth cup is called the cup of completion

God said: “I will take you as my own people.”

   Luke’s account of the Last Supper draws attention to the first and third cups. The Passover meal starts with the first cup of wine – the cup of sanctification: “I will bring you out.” Jesus drank this cup of wine with the disciples and promised them that the next time He drank the fruit of the vine with them would be in the kingdom. God brings us out of Egypt – out of the world, spiritual slavery to sin, and the fear of death.   

   The third cup of wine is the cup of redemption. Jesus took the third cup—the cup of redemption—and used that one as a symbol of the New Covenant in His blood. "Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:20). That Jesus used the third cup to institute communion was not by chance. That He was crucified during Passover week and died at the time of the evening sacrifice was according to divine plan and to underscore the fact that Jesus was the promised Savior.

     When Jesus instituted communion, He said, "This do in remembrance of Me." The next time you take communion, think about the broken bread of the Son that was hidden and retrieved and the cup of redemption. Thank God for His amazing plan of salvation and the cup of redemption He provided in His Son.

This link will take you to an excellent presentation of Christ in the Passover

Christ in the Passover with David Brickner - Jews for Jesus - YouTube

Sympathy Cards

   Spring is coming and with it comes spring cleaning. When I was young and we had a family at home, I gave the whole house a thorough cleaning every spring and fall. But as the children married and the size of the family shrank, so did my strength and the amount of dirt that accumulated. I modified my cleaning schedule to get over the house once a year, doing one room or portion per month and finishing in December. I skip the coldest winter months of January and February and begin again in March.

   So this is March and time to start the cleaning schedule for 2023. It begins with my office. Since all my winter projects (quilting, scrapbooking and crocheting) are finished, I had time to go through all the desk drawers and boxes of stuff in the closets. I threw out half of my box of research notes on the Powl family, some files in the desk and other things. If I didn't remember what it was, nobody else would either. On the top shelf of the one closet was a box of just shy of 450 cards we got after Steve died. They sat there for 29 years and were never touched. I decided they have served their purpose and can go too.

   Before pitching them, we sat down and went through them. I was amazed where all the cards came from. There were cards from relatives, friends, business places, and people we didn't know. A lot of the relatives are no longer living and also some of our friends. 

   I made some observations as I went through the cards. First, I should send more cards. Second, when I choose a card to send to someone, I try to pick one with an appropriate message. But when those cards came, I only read the name of the sender and a short message if they had written one in the card. We got as many as sixty cards a day and my mind was too full and tired to read every word. One lady who meant well sent a four-page letter on how to handle grief. I didn't know her and never read it. The best ones were those that shared a memory of Steve. What you write in a card is more important than what is pre-printed in it. Write a note but make it short and sweet.

   The cards that I did read every word came months and years later. One dear lady has sent us a note on Steve's birthday and the anniversary of his death every year for 29 years. The cards and notes that come later mean more than those that come in bunches right away. Three or four months after a death is a low spot when it feels like everyone has forgotten and you are stuck with the grief. That is when a card or note is really appreciated. But if you want to do that, it has to be intentional. If you don't put it on your schedule, you probably won't remember to send it.

  It seems a shame to pitch all those cards that people spent so much time and money on. But if I put the box back on the shelf they will sit there again as long as we live here and eventually will come to the same end. I might as well dispose of them myself and spare our children the trouble when they have to empty this house. If it makes you feel better, I did save a handful that were especially meaningful and/or from special people. It was touching to go through the cards and be reminded that so many people cared.

   

Winter List

  The winter is winding down and yesterday I reached the end of my winter to-do list when I put the last stitch in this afghan.

   Since October I have

• embroidered a quilt top
• put a 2000-piece puzzle together and two smaller ones
• crocheted a baby blanket
• quilted a crib quilt
• made a baby comforter
• scrapbooked my 2022 pictures
• wrote eight devotionals and five short stories
• crocheted an afghan

   Of course, I had all the usual housework and other activities to do as well. How did I get all that done in five months? Simple. I wasn't writing a book.

The Junk Drawer

   We have lived in the same house for fifty-five years. One top drawer in the kitchen cupboards has always been the junk drawer. When my daughter got married, she said she is not going to have a junk drawer. But the first time we went to visit them, she had a junk drawer. She said a person just needs to have a place to put things like that. Maybe you have a junk drawer too but gave it a more dignified name. 

   What is in my junk drawer? Mostly things that are needed ranging from every day to never. The scissors is used almost every day. A pen, pencil, ruler, scrap paper for writing grocery lists, scotch tape, and matches are used frequently. The junk drawer is also a bank for new batteries, recipes I clipped to try someday, a pill bottle repurposed to store thumb tacks, a jar of little screws and bits of hardware that might be useful sometime, a bag of keys that has outlived their usefulness because nobody remembers what they were for, a small paint brush that is there because that's where it always was.

    Sometimes I empty the junk drawer and reorganize it. But my German thriftiness balks at throwing things away that might be useful someday. So the recipes I never got around to trying, the bag of unknown keys, jar of little screws, and paint brush go back in the drawer. 

    My junk drawer has been there for fifty-five years, but my memory drawer reaches back much further. My earliest vague memories were just before and after I turned three years old. They became clear by the age of five and continued to this day. One drawer isn't big enough to hold that many years of memories so it became a file cabinet. Everything is still in there but I can't always find the right folder in the right drawer of the file cabinet. I give up and then all of a sudden it pops up when I'm not thinking about it.

     Like the contents of my junk drawer, I use some memories every day. For example, remembering how to read and type. Other things I use frequently, such as telling a story or singing by memory. There are other memories that (like the bag of keys) serve no good purpose and should be discarded and forgotten. Good intentions that were never acted upon are (like the unused recipes) not worth the space they take up. There are ideas (like the jar of screws) for things I want to do sometime but never get around to it. And things which I think must be done a certain way because that's the way we've always done it, are like the paint brush which has no good reason for being where it is.

    Memories can be useful or like useless clutter in a junk drawer. Discarding the clutter frees up space for the useful.

    

Three Trees

    Did someone ever share a need with you so you "know how to pray"?   We won't pray for a need if we don't know about it, but what does "knowing how to pray" mean? 

   I'm afraid too often we ask God to do what we think will solve the problem. God doesn't need our solutions or even our suggestions. He already knows about the problem and the solution. That does not mean we take a "whatever" attitude. He wants us to bring our concerns and desires to Him. James said, "You have not because you ask not." Bringing our cares and desires to God is an expression of trust in Him. We need only to ask for the basic need, not the way to make it happen.

   I have done that more times than I care to admit. I have been praying about a need in another person's life. I asked God to do a certain thing so something would happen. Nothing happened, but now I see God is moving in another direction and things are beginning to happen to answer the basic desire.

 

 Tale of Three Trees

   Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.

   The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: “I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I’ll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!”

   The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean. “I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I’ll be the strongest ship in the world!”

   The third little tree looked down into the valley below where men and women worked in a busy town. “I don’t want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me, they’ll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world.”

   Years passed. The rain came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain.

   The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said, “This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell.

   “Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest. I shall hold wonderful treasure!” the first tree said.

   The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, “This tree is strong. It is perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell.

   “Now I shall sail mighty waters!” thought the second tree. “I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!”

   The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven.

   But the woodcutter never even looked up. “Any kind of tree will do for me,” he muttered. With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.

   The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought her to a carpenter’s shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feedbox for animals.

   The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, nor with treasure. She was coated with sawdust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.

   The second tree smiled when the woodcutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead, the once strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail on an ocean, or even a river; instead, she was taken to a little lake.

   The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard.

   “What happened?” the once tall tree wondered. “All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God...”

   Many, many days and night passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams.

   But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feedbox.

   “I wish I could make a cradle for him,” her husband whispered.

   The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and the sturdy wood. “This manger is beautiful,” she said.

   And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

   One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake.

   Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She knew she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through with the wind and the rain.

   The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, “Peace.” The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun.

   And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

   One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man’s hands to her.

   She felt ugly and harsh and cruel.

    But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God’s love had changed everything.

   It had made the third tree strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

    The next time you feel down because you didn’t get what you wanted, sit tight because God has something better to give you.

Source unknown

Winter Projects

    Every winter I have a list of things I want to do before spring comes. It's a time to withdraw from the world, hole up inside, and do things there isn't time to do in the summer. Since we are empty nesters now, I can begin my winter projects in October. My list for this winter is:
Embroider a quilt top

Put a puzzle together

Crochet a baby blanket

Write six devotionals for a new book

Scrapbook my 2022 photos

Quilt a baby quilt

Crochet an afghan

   So far I have checked off the first four things on the list and will start on the photos today. The quilt top took me about two months. I will let the quilting for next winter.

The puzzle was the largest one I have ever done. It was the first (and the last) 2000-piece puzzle I have done. It consumed my life for three weeks.

  I don't have a photo of the baby blanket but it is ready to give when there is a baby shower for a great-grandchild who is on the way,

   Having a list of projects helps make the winter interesting and pass more quickly. By March I am usually ready to move on to other things. Now on to the photos!

Moravian Hymn

 

   As we were singing in church Sunday morning, I suddenly noticed the song was written in 1723 by Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf. "Heart With Loving Heart United" is a Moravian hymn! What is it doing in a Mennonite hymnbook? Why not? We also have a Lutheran hymn, "A Mighty Fortress," written by Martin Luther and a Catholic hymn, "Holy God We Praise Thy Name."

   When I thought about the words of Zinzendorf's hymn, I could see the Moravian theology in it. The Moravians stressed community and brotherhood. The four leading Moravian communities of Bethlehem, Emmaus, Nazareth, and Lititz were founded in the 1700s and located in eastern Pennsylvania. They were not Anabaptist as they practiced infant baptism, but they shared some of the Mennonite beliefs in nonresistance and non-swearing of oaths. Zinzendorf was the most influential leader of the Moravians.

   Nicholas von Zinzendorf was born into a noble family in 1700. His father died when he was an infant, and he was raised at Gros Hennersdorf, the castle of his influential Pitetistic grandmother. Zinzendorf married a cousin, Erdmuth Dorothea von Reuss, and assumed his duties as a young noble in the court of King August the Strong. 

   In 1722, he was approached by a group of Moravians who requested permission to live on his lands. He granted their request, and a small band crossed the border from Moravia to settle in a town they called Herrnhut. Zinzendorf was intrigued by the story of the Moravians. A few years later he left public life and began spending all his time working with the troubled group of Moravians.  Largely due to his leadership, the group came to formulate a unique document, known as the "Brotherly Agreement," which set forth basic tenets of Christian behavior. They experienced a revival, and the Moravian church was firmly established.

   Zinzendorf believed that salvation was a matter of the heart and not merely an intellectual assent to certain principals or following prescribed liturgy in worship services. He also focused on missionary outreach with an ecumenical idea of uniting existing denominations. The Moravians sent missionaries from Greenland to South America as well as to Native Americans during Zinzendorf'a lifetime. They established schools and emphasized music. During the Revolutionary War, the Brother House in Lititz housed wounded soldiers who were cared for by members of the community. 

    In later years, the Moravians lost their nonresistant beliefs, distinctive dress, and other unique beliefs. They were basically acclimated to the dominate culture. They are still known for some distinctive traditions such as the Moravian Star, putz (nativity scene), and music. The archives at Bethlehem preserves an extensive collection of Moravian music.

Here are the words of Zinzendorf's hymn written in 1723, soon after he became acquainted with the Moravians.

Heart with loving heart united, 

Met to know God's holy will,

Let His love in us ignited, 

More and more our spirits fill, 

He the head, we are His members;

We reflect the light He is.

He the Master, we the brothers,

He is ours and we are His.

May we all so love each other,

And all selfish claims deny,

That the brother for the brother

Will not hesitate to die.

Even so our Lord has loved us;

For our lives He shed His blood.

Still He grieves and still He suffers

When we mar the brotherhood.

Since, O Lord, You have demanded

That our lives Your love should show,

So we wait to be commanded

Forth into Your world to go.

Kindle in us love's compassion

So that everyone may see

In our fellowship the promise

Of the new humanity.

Moravian Star