Friday, March 21, 2008

Living in the Shadow

Amazing day yesterday! The kids and I spent an incredible hour walking through the Shadow of the Cross. As part of Holy week, our church had an awesome station to station walk though experience that focused on the "why" of Easter. The booklet we were given states that we'd leave with a deeper understanding of Jesus' agenda for our lives- forgiveness, salvation, healing and freedom.
The 8-station experience is designed to take about an hour for an individual, but since I was with the kids, I figured we'd have about a half hour's worth of attention span. Surprisingly enough, we were being passed up by other adults and I'm guessing we were there for at least an hour.
The stations were:
Who is God?
Confessing Sin
Receiving Forgiveness
Forgiving Others
Renouncing Idols
The Divine Exchange
Communion with the Sacred
Come Lord Jesus
It was such a blessing to see the kids confessing sin, forgiving others' sin against them, and renouncing things in their lives that have become idols. I was able to annoint each child with oil and pray over them. We walked through crosses symbolizing Jesus' blood shed for us, the darkness of the tomb where he was laid, and came through a white cross of the resurrection. We knelt and did communion together and went to our knees to pray. It was such a moving experience.
A couple times during reading of the stations, I'd glance up and see one or more of the kids with eyes closed praying. Precious!
Jesus is amazing and we definitely felt His presence!
Tonight is Good Friday and we'll be back at church to remember this somber day. We usually follow the evening up with a viewing of The Passion. We'll see how we do.
Easter is just around the corner!! Praise God!