Mezuzahs

We have been repeatedly told to create Christ Centered homes. Our homes should bare testimony to all who live, visit, or enter our homes of our faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement. In recent General Conferences we have been told we need to fortify our homes and make them a fortress of safety. We have switched to home centered church. (During the pandemic we had home only church). This direction is nothing new. In the book of Mormon Nephi says "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" 2 Nephi 25:26. 

My family recently moved across the country and are living in a new house in a new area. This has become even more important to create a sanctuary of peace for my children. A place that all can come and feel of the love of the Savior. During Family night we talked about how we are doing this physically. The kids were quick to point out that our decorations on centered on Christ, we have scriptures hanging on the wall in most rooms and my kids all have pictures of Christ on their walls.

Then we talked about  Deuteronomy 6 and how the Lord has commanded us  to keep his words in our hearts, to teach our children his words, to talk about his word with our neighbors and to put his word on our walls and door posts. And while I think that having pictures of Christ and Scriptures hanging on the Wall probably fulfills the intent of Deuteronomy 6 I thought it would be fun to do Mezuzahs.  Mezuzahs are how the Israelites put scriptures on the door posts. So for our activity we all chose favorite scriptures and the kids made Mezuzahs to put on their door posts in their rooms. We also have one to put on our front door post. I love the idea that every time you go in and out you see it and your thoughts are turned to our Creator. I love that the kids could choose a scripture that represented what they wanted to remember and only they know what it is. It becomes a personal moment of communication every time they leave their room.  I don't know what their scripture choice is, but they could be reminded that they are loved, or they can do hard things. etc.

I asked the kids to show me their finished Mezuzahs. They had a little too much fun showing off their talents.

Charlie wasn’t nearly as excited to show off  his.

I am excited to hang our Mezuzahs up. The kids loved the idea and thought it was a great way to remind themselves of the power scriptures can give them. 

I am excited for the opportunity it provides for questions from friends, and opportunities to discuss the gospel. 

 

Silent Saturday

You think of Christ being dead for three days, but really he was only dead for one full day. He died at 3:00 pm on Friday, and was resurrected just as the sun rose on Sunday. So the only full day Christ was dead for was Saturday, which was the Sabbath.  The scriptures doesn't say anything about Saturday. It  can be assumed that Christ's disciples observed the sabbath, it can be assumed they wept for the loss, some might assume they hid. However it doesn't say. So Saturday is the day that we talk about Easter in The Book of Mormon. In the past we have read, Three Days without Light: a Nephite Easter Story. I highly recommend it.

This year, we did a Book of Mormon version of the resurrection eggs. My sister gave these to me a few years back. I will have to see if she still has the file to attach.

  I love taking a day and talking about how Christ is the Savior for the whole world, no matter who you are and where you live.  I love talking about how the experiences and testimonies of those in Jerusalem are different from those in the Americas, But Christ came to them all. He loved them all and we are one big happy family.

Did you know that there are also traditions in England that Christ came to visit the remnants of Ephraim on the British Iles after he was resurrected?

William Blake talks of this in his hymn "Jersalem"

And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon England's  mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On England's pleasant pastures seen!

Truly there are even other sheep he visited. It would be fun to sing this hymn, and discuss how Jesus visited many of his sheep at this time.

The last thing we always do on Saturday night is make  Resurrection rolls for breakfast on Easter, Sometimes we make resurrection cookies instead of rolls, or in addition on a different day. I love the ressurection cookies you can get the recipe for resurrection cookies in one of my favorite resources for Christ-Centered Easters on Amazon.

Resurrection Rolls

Ingredients

1 package of crescent roll dough
Bag of big marshmallows
melted butter
cinnamon sugar

Instructions.

Preheat the oven as directed on the crescent roll package

1. Take a Marshmallow, talk about how it is white just like Jesus is white and clean and pure.  When He died his friends took him down and anointed him with oil.  (dip the Marshmallow in the melted butter.)

2.  Then they prepared his body for burial with spices. Typically this would have been hundreds of pounds of spices.  (then roll the marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar)

3.  Then they wrapped his body in linens. (wrap the marshmallow up in the crescent roll).

place on cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Have each of the kids repeat the story as they do their own.

4. After his body was prepared he was placed in the tomb and the door was shut. (put in the oven and shut the door . .  Cook for 8-10 minutes).

5.  In the morning when his friends went to visit his tomb they found that he was gone. (when you take them out of the oven allow them to cool for a few minutes until they can be handled, the kids can see that the marshmallow is gone.let them eat the roll while is is warm and tasty)

Good Friday

 The trials  of Christ were rushed, so that the task could all be completed before the sabbath. Christ suffered in Gethsemane Thursday Evening and was then betrayed by Judas, Through the night he was tried several different times. Just like the Passover lamb was declared perfect and suitable for sacrifice, Pilot declared Christ of any wrong doing and he was a just man. Christ too was declared perfect. (see Luke 23: 14). 

Despite being found innocent, Christ was still sentenced to crucifixion. To teach about the crucifixion story we use the resurrection eggs. You can look up all sorts of these on pintrest, or you can even buy them on amazon.  This one is so cheep it is almost worth it to just buy it as opposed to make it.

In final fulfillment of the Passover Christ died during the 9th hour. The very hour the lambs were being slaughtered at the temple, Christ died on the cross.  When Christ declared it "it is finished" he knew he had completed what he had been sent to do, he then willing gave up his spirit to God and willed himself to die.  He could not be killed. He could have saved himself, because he was God he had to tell his spirit to leave his body. I wonder if he had to have faith that in that step it wasn't eternal, that he truly would be ressurrected.

After we go through the ressurection eggs. We dye Easter eggs. For a long time I have struggled with the connection of Easter Eggs to the true meaning of Easter. and have wondered if it is simply a distraction from the true meaning of Easter. When I was in college I spent a summer in Romania doing research in the Orphanages.   In Romania they die eggs and see who can get them the reddest.  Also died eggs are a huge part of the Romanian and Ukrainian Cultures, very religious, they are Christmas decorations, and very religious decorations.  While there I learned that the custom of dying Easter Eggs came from the Tradition that Mary had a bowl of hard boiled eggs at the cross, she collected the blood of Christ in the bowl and it died the eggs red. But still it seemed a bit odd, why would Mary have eggs at the cross.  And why even more importantly would she collect the blood of Christ. Then while I was studying the Passover, I learned that hard boiled eggs were apart of the Passover meal, mostly likely because they were the traditional food of mourning. I can now see why Mary may have had a bowl of eggs. It had been a long day, long night. it would make sense that through it all, someone may have offered an act of charity and brought food for the morning women that never left his side. And if they brought food it would have most likely been hard boiled eggs.  but why would they have collected the blood? Well If Christ was truly the Passover lamb and had to be fulfilled in every aspect. the blood of the Passover lamb was collected. It make sense to me now, That the woman, who were in tune enough to understand what was happening, who made sure he was anointed, who never left his side, would have also realized that someone needed to collect the blood of the lamb, to fulfill the law. If the only bowl they had was brought to them full of eggs. I can now see why the blood of Christ would have died the eggs red. Now, if this happened or not, I do not know. But typically there is some truth in most oral traditions. 

This also reminds me of when my cousin got baptized and my aunt gave a talk. He was baptized around Easter. She had an egg that she told a story about how we go through our lives, and sometimes inadvertently we make mistakes, and sometime son purpose we sin, each time we do something wrong she dipped the egg in dye. The egg was no longer white, clean or pure. She allowed it to dry and she tried rubbing it, she even dipped it in water to try and make it come clean. Nothing worked.  And then she had another glass, and she talked about how Christ can make us clean through baptism. and she dipped it in the cup and all the  dirtiness came off and it was pure again (the cup was full of bleach). After we are done dying Easter Eggs, I go through this object lesson with one of the eggs. And talk about how Christ dying is what makes it possible for our sins to be washed away.

Passover - Sedar Meal

 In my house we have always had our Passover meal on Thursday night because this is the night Jesus had his Passover meal. My sister has Passover meal the First night of Passover as dictated by Scripture. And honestly the more I study about passover, the more I find that even devote Jews will have a Passover meal any time, sometimes multiple times, during the week of Passover.

In the past My passover meal has consisteted of the breaking of the Afikenomen and hiding it and finding it, and breaking it and sharing it. Then eating Gyros. The Afikenomen to me has always been the most important part of the meal, because it is what became the sacrament. If you were to do just one aspect of the passover meal,  This would be a good choice, but I am a bit biased.  

My sister for years has been telling me I need to do the whole seder, and I decided this was the year. The whole purpose of the Seder meal is to teach the kids. This whole concept is fascinating to me. . My sister worked hard on preparing the Haggaduh, and I helped edit it and add to it.  There are many things you can do for the passover meal and we have big plans for next year too. As soon as I figure out how to upload a copy of the PDF of the Haggaduh I will.

Anointing Wednesday

 John 12 talks about Mary anointing Christ's feet.  But  Matthew and Mark  talk about the anointing of his feet.  Many assume that these are the same instance and maybe miss translated, or just a different version of the same event.  However John clearly says that the anointing takes place 6 days before pass over and Mark clearly says 2 days before the feast.  So they are clearly two separate accounts. I for a long time have tried to figure out why he was anointed twice. Why his feet were anointed first and then his head anointed later. There had to be a reason. I had found so many symbols of the Passover fulfilled in Christ, I knew there had to be a reason for this one too.

I couldn't find instructions for the processing of  the lambs for Passover.  And then I stumbled upon it. The Passover lamb was a combination of all the sacrifices, so it had to meet all the requirements for the several different types of sacrifices. Burnt offerings were selected and their feet were anointed as part of the inspection process for their perfection. Scape goats were anointed on their head with the sins of the people before they were sent to the wilderness. Thus both requirements were fulfilled. His feet were anointed in preparation for the perfect offering, his head was anointed to prepare him to take him n the sins of the world.

Today we just a had a discussion of these events. I am open to ideas of activities or additional ideas for this day.

Fig Tuesday

 There is quite a lot of debate on the day the Christ cursed the fig tree.  However, I figure it doesn't really matter a whole lot what day he cursed it. Really it just matters that it happened, and what we learn from it.  

On his way into Jerusalem, sometime during his final week, Christ gets hungry and sees a fig tree along the road with leaves.  Now to understand this story you must understand the life of a fig tree. First of all it is not the season for fig trees this early in spring, so there should not have been figs on the tree.  However, figs grow before the leaves, and when the leaves come on, the figs should be ripe.  So none of the other fig trees had figs, but they also didn't have leaves.  So the tree was not cursed for not having figs as much as it was for pretending to be something it was not.  Or for being showy, puffed up and prideful.  Interesting to compare this to the other parables found in the next few Chapters.  

Tuesday and Wednesday Christ spends at the temple teaching.  But he isn't just teaching he is being scrutinized and judged by the Pharisees.  This too fulfills the Passover traditions.  Like mentioned on Palm Sunday the Jews brought the lamb into their home to watch it and make sure it had no faults, to make sure it really was perfect.  The Pharisees were there watching THE LAMB scrutinizing him and trying to find Faults in him. Christ's Parables he teaches at this time are direct condemnations of the Pharisees, just like his cursing of the fig tree. (I need  to list the parables and references)

Curly, our lamb, brought us a basket of fig newtons for dessert.

Monday - Cleansing of the Temple

 Today we learned about how Passover is often considered synonymous with The Feast at of Unleavened Bread. For 8 days the Jews not only avoid leaven but seek out every opportunity to eat Unleavened Bread. The leaven in bread is symbolic of pride because leavening puffs up bread, and pride puffs us up.  So not only do they not eat leaven for eight days, they completely rid their homes of it, Spring Cleaning for the Jews is literally done religiously every spring during Passover.  They cleanse their house and look for the leavening to get rid of.  

At the same times the Jews were cleaning their house of the leaven and sin, Christ was cleaning his Father's house of the sin. This is discussed in all 4 gospels: Matthew 21:12–15; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46; John 2:13–16 and there is a video clip depicting this event. After our discussion of the cleansing of the temple,  the basket was full of eggs, each egg had a different task and a small amount of money, (anywhere from fifty cents to a couple of dollars).  Then the kids got to open the egg. They got to keep all the money, but to open another egg they had to complete the task in the egg.  We had a whole bunch of deep cleaning items I had been hoping to get done for a while. The money was just enough to get the kids motivated to do their job quickly but thoroughly. We then discussed how it is easier to feel of the spirit when our house is clean and in order and free of things that are distracting to the spirit.