Spiritual Care Sunday #12

 a blessing for Easter Sunday
“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week… Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”—John 20:19, ESV

Oh God, we stretch out our hands to you in this early Easter darkness.
We need you to pull us up and set us on our feet again, 
for we are weak and tired.
God, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Spirit, have mercy.
God, on that first Easter morning
while it was still dark,
one woman went alone to the tomb
to do what could be done to honor you,
though hope had drained away.
Two bright angels met her there, and then –
how is it possible? –
you were there. fully alive, beyond belief.
in doubt and grief,
in sickness of body and mind and spirit,
our prayers not fully realized,
rejoicing… anyway.
carrying forth the realized hope of the Resurrected One,
singing our alleluias great and small,
while it is still dark.
Blessed are we who stretch out our hands to you
For that is what makes us Easter people:
Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.
-Kate Bowler 



and a little window below into some of our Easter traditions.... 
annual tradition of drawing hearts on the sidewalk for Easter  
(I started this with my kids in 2020 during Covid and have done it every year since with them until they went off to college and then with other neighborhood kids...) 

this year's hearts between 52nd and 55th Ave NE :) 
https://youtube.com/shorts/dybasiIVAWU?si=N7KBcsSFibj548Iy

with some very sweet neighbor kids on Saturday 



As we have done every year since 2020 (we made this during Covid when no one could go to church), we flowered a cross outside our home today for Easter, and we invited neighbors and friends to stop by to bring a flower or two from their yard or just come to take a family photo. 

me and my husband Jason today

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