Celebrate Easter with Your Children

I stood by the nursery desk, wondering why the nursery leader was late.  I could not remember her being late before.  A few minutes later, she flew in apologizing.  "I'm so sorry I'm late," she said smiling.  "But it is your fault, you know."

"What?" I questioned, wondering what her explanation would be.

"Easter," she explained breathlessly.  "I was up before dawn this morning putting out the items for the treasure hunt.  I awoke the children early and started them on the treasure hunt while I put the hot cross buns into the oven.  You gave us so many good ideas for celebrating Easter that I just had to do some of them, and things took longer than I thought they would."  

She was flustered, but her joy in helping her children celebrate this special day was contageous.  She put down her things and began greeting all the parents with a beaming smile on her face. 

Easter.  It is the focal point of our faith.  Without Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, our faith is in vain.  We cannot begin to explain our own faith without pointing to Christ's work in that last week of his life.  We owe everything to it. The assurance of our relationship to Christ rests in it.  We have no hope without it.  Yet in spite of this, Easter is often an overlooked holiday for many Christians.

Think about it.  Do you look forward to Resurrection Sunday with the same excitement as Christmas?  Do your children?  Do they have reason to shout "The Lord is Risen!" on Sunday morning?  Do they know that this is the most important holiday for Christians?  Do they see your excitement as you prepare that special meal to celebrate with family and friends?  Do they hear you singing precious songs about the suffering of Christ that week as you enter into His suffering, identifying with the Man of Sorrows?  Do they sense from you that this day is more important to you than Christmas?

Let us make Easter a BIG deal for ourselves and for our children.  I am not talking about Easter baskets and Easter bunnies and new clothes.  I am talking about celebrating the week and the day in a way that makes a profound impression on the value of what Christ did for us. Here are just a few suggestions on things that will help children grasp the importance of this week.

• On Palm Sunday, buy small palm branches or make them from construction paper and play out Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem.  Let them re-enact going into town to get the donkey, bringing it back for Jesus, and then laying clothing and palm branches out for the donkey to ride.  Shout "Hosanna to the Son of David together."  Sing praise songs to Jesus, and talk about what it would be like if the stones had actually begun to praise Him.
• Make a picture poster of the events of Jesus' last week.  Each day this week add one picture of what happened on that day.
• Celebrate the Passover Seder together as a family.  There is information online that will help you celebrate this.  Explain that Jesus and his disciples celebrate this together just before He died.  
• If your church has a special service on Thursday or Friday, go together as a family.
• On Friday (or Thursday, if that is your tradition) read together one of the stories in the gospel of the crucifixion.  Whenever a different person is mentioned, try to imagine what it was like for them that day. 
• Find a devotional that you can use to focus your family's devotions on the sacrifice Jesus made.
• Invite people to church for Easter and then home to your house afterwards to eat together.
• Make cards together that celebrate the resurrection.  Send them to friends or pass them out to neighbors.
  
• Have a special Easter dinner.  Serve lamb and talk about Jesus being the Passover lamb.  Make a cake in the shape of a cross or a lamb.
• Make a paper mache or bread dough tomb.  Put together clothespin disciples for the children to reenact the events.  Find a rock to cover the entrance to the tomb.
• Separate your celebration of Spring from Easter.  Celebrate Spring on the first day of Spring.  In your gift for your children, include colored eggs, bunnies, chicks, new clothes, and other special things.
• Attend the Easter Sunrise service, if your church has one.  
• On Easter morning (or afternoon), send your children on a treasure hunt.  Inside small paper or plastic bags or cloth bundles, put symbols of the events of the last week of Jesus' life.  If it will make it more fun, add a small amount of candy to each one.  When all the items are found, see if the children can identify each symbol and tell why it was included.  Then, for older children, see if they can put the symbols in the correct order.  

Easter is coming!  I cannot wait!  But first I will walk through this week with a sorrowful heart as I grieve His horrendous suffering and my own sin that made it so necessary.

Dangerous Comparisons

Recently, I caught an unexpected glimpse of myself from a side view in a long mirror.  Since it was not the way I usually see myself, I was startled by the imperfect posture and the profile that "only a mother would love."  A beauty I am not, and no amount of beauty products or makeup will make me one.  At times, I even pity my husband who is the one who has to look at me the most. In the midst of my reverie, however, I realized the danger of what I was doing.  I took the world's standard of beauty and elevated it above God's.  Without realizing it, I had just told God that He did not do a very good job when He gave me this face, even though I know well that God does everything correctly and perfectly.

All so different

While sin and death mar God's creation, God never intended that everyone have the same high cheekbones, long neck, perfect features, and hourglass figures.  Just as flowers, with all their varying beauty, give honor to God in their uniqueness, God also wants us to reflect His creative power in the very different ways we were made.

Comparing myself to someone else is dangerous for two reasons.  First, it uses the wrong standard for our inspection.  Just as our standard for physical beauty should be God's Word and not what society tells us, we also tend to use the wrong criteria for how well we have done in our activities.  As a student, I depended more on what my grades said than whether I had worked "heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."  Secondly, it puts us in danger of two serious character flaws - pride and insecurity.  If we surpass man's approval, we can become proud.  If we do not measure up, we can become insecure.  Whenever these two things exist in our lives, it will point to using the wrong standard in our lives.

Let us look at housekeeping, for example.  Unwittingly, we adopt our standard from the picture perfect homes of magazines.  Sometimes we almost apologize for the fact that people live in our home.  Instead of looking to God and His ideas for how our house should be kept clean, we live in fear that our house does not measure up to other people's neat homes.  It is the Lord who judges His children on how well something is done.  After all, he is the Only one who looks beyond the outside and sees our heart attitudes.  He knows if we have done our best with a humble spirit or if we are out to get praise from people.  What matters in our housekeeping is whether or not we have pleased Him.  If we shut our eyes at the end of a long day, all we need to do is say to the Lord, "I did my best today.  I know I did not get everything done and the house is still not as clean as I want it, but I really did do my best."

Sometimes I hear the wrong standard being used in the way we criticize others.  We might not say it aloud, but our attitude reveals that we have applied our own standard instead of God's to the situation.  We need to remember God's words:  "Who art though that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth."  (Romans 14:4)  We have no idea of what was going on in that person's life that day.  We do not know what her attitude was.  We do not know if he worked to the best of his ability.  We do not know if she did it as an offering to God instead of getting approval from people.  We just do not know the whole story.

The plague of comparing ourselves to others dominates our culture.  It results in a lack of what we all so desperately need:  joy, peace, patience, and love.  As a Christian woman, I need to be different.  If I find joy in doing my work for the Lord nd in seeking His "Well done!" at the end of the day, I will be more likely to radiate His peace instead of being anxious.  If I do my work to the best of my ability, I will not bear the burden of guilt for laziness or carelessness.  If I leave the final judgement of others' work to the Lord, I will more likely radiate love and patience when I deal with them.

So the next time I find myself being cricitcal of myself or another, I need to ask myself, "Am I using God's standard, society's standard, or my own?"  Then I need to find out what God's standard is and remember that He is the only one who can truly judge correctly.

March News

Dear friends and family,

“Where are you headed next?”  That is the question we answer most as we go from church to church.  Usually people are asking about trips abroad, but occasionally they mean “Where are you speaking next?”  So this is an update on that question so that you can pray for us.

For the past several months, we have been here in Georgia.  We have had a number of speaking engagements in churches that have asked us to share our ministry.  There have also been opportunities for Charlie to preach or for Joan to teach Sunday School.  This week Joan is starting a 6-week Bible study for ladies’ in our home.  While we are here, we also frequently visit churches to share with them what is going on in our ministry.

In June, we plan to go to Maine.  Our sending church is located there as well as several supporting churches, and we feel it is time to give an update.

The last two weeks in June we are scheduled to go to Peru where we will each be teaching a 30-hour modular course in a Bible college in Arequipa.  Charlie will teach on hermeneutics, and Joan will teach on teaching.  In early July we will return to Maine where we will be for another few weeks.

Here are some of our praises:

•  Opportunities recently to share our ministry with people and churches.
• Joan is teaching a Bible study for ladies again.

Here are our prayer requests:

• Safety in travel – both here in the U.S. and in our trips abroad.
• A full calendar of speaking – both here in the south and on our trip to Maine.
• Wisdom and facility in preparing for our classes in Peru.  Joan is expected to teach in Spanish, so her preparation takes many hours.
• Nailing down other dates for other trips.  We are trying to schedule the Ivory Coast and some other countries this year.
• Please pray about our schedule.  Up until last week when Peru gave us dates, we had nothing definite on the calendar for overseas trips. We are excited about that opportunity.  We would still like three or four other trips this year.

Thank you for praying!

Joan and Charlie Farley

Missionary Trivia Quiz

 

Dear family and friends,

Years ago at a Christmas gathering at our church in Maine, we played a game testing people’s knowledge of the record of Christmas in the Bible against their own understanding of the events. It was an interesting exercise to see how much information we had gathered from the right source. Today we would like to play a trivia game with you to see how well we have communicated our prayer concerns over the past year. You will find the answers at the bottom of the page. (Some questions require multiple answers.)

1. Which of the following countries did we visit this year? A. Liberia  B. Dominican Republic  C. Mexico; D. Guatemala; E. Luxembourg.

2. Which two countries had we planned to visit but were unable to do so? A. Liberia  B. Dominican Republic  C. Mexico   D. Guatemala  E. Luxembourg

3. What kept us from visiting one of those countries? A. Lack of funds  B. Epidemic  C. Political unrest  D. Changes in scheduling

4. How many countries do we plan to visit in the coming year? 2, 3, 4, or 5? Go ahead, take a guess.

5. Did we spend more or less time away from our home base this year compared to last year?

6. Do we plan to spend more or less time away from home next year?

7. How many car miles do you think we traveled this year? A. Less than 20,000  B. 20,000 – 29,999  C. 30,000 – 39,999   D. More than 40,000

8. Where is our support level? A. 57% B. 59%  C. 61%  C. 62%

9. As 2015 begins, which of these do you think is a big prayer need?  A. Invitations to share our ministry here in the U.S.  B. Travel funds for overseas trips.  C. Arrangements for trips abroad.

10. When will we be in your area again?  A. We usually go to the churches where we are invited.  B. We plan to spend four to six weeks in New England and Canada.  C. We are hoping to get back to South Carolina.  D. We are willing to go wherever the Lord leads.

Check your answers and let us know how well we are doing at communicating with you.

Thank you for your support for us in prayer over the past year. We are so glad to know that we have people standing behind us. May God richly bless you, and may He be the focus of and the reason for all your Christmas celebrations.

Because of Christmas and Calvary,

Charlie and Joan Farley

Answers: 1. C and D 2. A, B and E. 3. The Ebola epidemic in Liberia kept us from going there, and we had hoped to visit Luxembourg on our way either going or coming, so that fell through as well. The Dominican Republic is rescheduled for next year. 4. Four trips are planned – one to D.R., one to Peru, and we are working on a trip to Africa and one to Asia. 5. We were away from home less because we did not travel as much inside the U.S. this year. However, we spent more time abroad than any previous year. 6. We hope to spend more time abroad and more time away from home inside the U.S. 7. B. This is less than any previous year since we started this ministry. 8. The last time we reported, it was at 57%. It now stands at 59%. Thank you for your continued prayer for us about this matter. 9. All of them. 10. All of these answers are right.

Counting to Ten on Thanksgiving Day

 

On this beautiful day of Thanksgiving, I stop to count some of the sweet blessings that God has given through the years.  These are broad, sweeping statements.  Perhaps later I will add some more specific ones, but these are huge blessings in my life that I never want to forget.

1. God saved me.  On a hot, sunny day in Indonesia as a five-year-old child, God showed me the enormity of my sin and my need of a Savior.  My mother led me in a simple prayer and my life forever changed.  Today my heart overflows with the joy of knowing I am loved and safe with God.
2. Sixteen years ago God gave me a wonderful, godly husband.  I had to wait a long time to find him.  I let other opportunities for marriage go by as I waited for this man that I hoped existed and who was the other half of me.  Today I give thanks for his godly leadership, his thoughtful intelligence, and his Christ-like love for me.
3. God gave me godly parents.  Throughout my life, I have witnessed firsthand their faith and commitment to God.  They have been faithful witnesses to me of what it means to trust and follow God.  Today I give thanks that at 89 years of age, they are still part of my life.   
4. The Bible.  What a precious book.  Everyday when I open its pages, I marvel again how it speaks to me afresh.  Today I found plenty of passages that gave me words of thanksgiving to fill my heart with praise.
5. Church.  Whether I am talking about our church in Georgia, the church my husband pastored in Maine, or the many other churches where I worshiped and worked through the years, I am so grateful for the role of the church in my life.  The teaching I have received there and the fellowship of the believers have been a help in hard times and a way to celebrate the good times.  Church has helped me grow and made me of more service to God than I ever would have been alone.
6. Health.  I know of so many people my age who are struggling with physical issues.  How thankful I am for good health. As I get older, I am getting glimpses of the fact that my body may not always be healthy, so I am doubly thankful for health today.
7. Beauty.  We live in a beautiful world.  I sometimes wonder how heaven could possibly be any better than this, but I am convinced that it is.
8. The gift of sight.  Every time I stop of admire the color of a fresh flower, the sparkling of dew on the grass, the arch of a double rainbow in the sky, or the glow of autumn leaves in the morning sunlight, I marvel that God would give me eyes to see such beauty.  Along with that gift, I am also giving thanks today for eyeglasses.  I see more clearly with them and appreciate God’s beauty more with them.
9. Music.  Right now the sound of a professional choir singing “We Gather Together” is filtering up the stairs and into the room where I write.  My heart soars in praise when I hear beautiful music, whether it is the sound of a pipe organ that leads a congregation in song, a cello playing “It Is Well” or a child’s voice singing “Jesus loves me.”  Today music helps me lift my heart in praise in a way that a world without music could not.
10. The gift of hearing.  As I get older, my hearing is not nearly as good as it used to be.  I notice it when a mosquito has to get close to me for me to hear it rather than hearing it across the room the way I did when I was younger.  Still, I am amazed that God would let me hear the beautiful and no-so-beautiful sounds around me.  Our hearing helps protect us from danger as well as letting us enjoy so much – the singing of birds, the patter of rain, and the thundering of the waterfall.
    
    Thanksgiving Day sounds are all around me.  I hear a knife on wood as someone cuts vegetables in the kitchen.  A full choir sings through computer speakers.  Footsteps sound in the hallway.  Muted conversations drift through the open door.  Dishes clatter.  The oven door squeaks open and then closed.  A door shuts.  The clock ticks.  A cell phone announces an incoming message.  Cars whisper by on the road outside.  All in all, they remind me that a family has gathered to feast and thank the Lord for His blessings.
    
    Thank you, Lord, for hearing.

And so I have counted to ten.  To be honest, this is only a start.  My blessings, should I count them all, would number in the thousands.