My Paisley World: Easter

Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts

April 1, 2018

Easter Blessings: In Christ Alone, My Hope is Found

"In Christ Alone" is a powerful song written by Stuart Townend & Keith Getty.

We've sung it at our church for many years, and it has come to be my favorite.

It features the timeless message of the gospel-

the biblical truth of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Our hope is in the firm foundation of Christ -alone.

Meaning... just Christ.

Not Christ + going to church.

Not Christ + donating to charities.

Not Christ + obeying the Ten Commandments.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith,

and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8,9

It's not about what we have to do,

it's about what Jesus already DID.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Each and every verse is dynamic.

"What heights of love!"

"What depths of peace!"

Listen to Lauren Daigle's beautiful rendition

from YouTube, with lyrics below.

Rejoice in what He did for us...for YOU.

We stand in the love and power of Christ.

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe.

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand:

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/in-christ-alone/

April 13, 2017

Easter Greetings!

vivalabuenavida

"Jesus has overcome,

and the grave is overwhelmed.

The victory is won.

He has risen from the dead!"

-Chris Tomlin

As we celebrate the joyous Resurrection of our Lord Jesus,

may you and your family be blessed with His love!

March 27, 2016

Happy Resurrection Day!

Happy Resurrection Day,

this holiest of days,

to you and your families!

April 3, 2015

Easter Blessings!

FrenchPressMornings

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn,

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven,

and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

His countenance was like lightening, and his clothing as white as snow.

And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

But the angel answered and said to the women,

"Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, for He is risen, as He said.

Come and see the place where the Lord lay."

Matthew 28:1-6

Easter blessings to you and yours

as we celebrate the

Resurrection of Jesus, our Savior!

April 16, 2014

Attending a Pysanky Workshop

After writing my previous post on the Ukrainian art of Pysanky Easter eggs,

(see that post HERE), I knew I'd just love to try my hand at it!

As luck would have it, I heard about a workshop offered by our township's
Parks & Recreation department and signed right up!

Above are samples that Jenn, our instructor,
brought to show each step of the process.

We were each given a kit, containing instructions, dyes,

a square of beeswax and the stylus tool, called a "kistka."

We were asked to bring our own candle in a holder.

Jenn gave us each an egg, which she had "blown out" ahead of time.

Also due to time limitations, she had pre-measured and marked our eggs
with simple geometric designs to be used as guidelines as we were learning.

Paper plates became collectors of excess wax drippings,

and, with wires fitted through them, stands for the eggs at the final stage.

Although this post is not meant to serve as instructions on how to make Pysanky,

I hope that you'll enjoy seeing the process and maybe be inspired to try it yourself!

The metal funnel end of the kistka is heated in the candle flame.

You can then shave off a bit of the beeswax to fill the funnel.

The melted wax flows through and allows you to sketch the wax onto the egg.

As I began, I noticed that the beeswax turned black from the soot of the candle.

No worries; this will later be removed,
and in the meantime, is easier to see on the shell.

I found it wasn't easy to keep a steady hand

and quickly saw wax blobs foil my plan for thin straight lines!

Keep in mind that Pysanky is a wax-resist technique.

You may be familiar with this as "batik."

Where ever you place wax, the color under that wax is what remains.

On to the first round of dye.

Notice the white plug that is used to fill the blowing hole

to prevent the dye from leaking inside the shell.

Next came green...

...and then orange, as I gradually added wax to build the design.

Hmmm. It's starting to look quite ugly!

And uglier still.

I was hoping for a swan underneath this duckling.

A crafter's heat gun tool was used to melt away the wax

and reveal the beauty underneath.

Holding my breath as I waited for Jenn to unveil my egg.

I was quite happy with the results!

Next came the final step of spraying a coat of shellac
to give it that high gloss finish that looks fabulous!

And there you have it - my first attempt at Pysanky!

Here are the lovely results from some of the ladies around the table~

What a fantastic experience!
I got to hang out with friends and meet a few new ones.
Each of us had a unique type of creativity.
We cheered each other along and were excited to see one another's final results!

Jenn, thanks for showing us the ropes, for your patience and encouragement!
And thank yous to Lynne, Jean, Debbie, Steph, Darlene & Rachel for the photos!

I realized that in contrast to the exquisite works of art featured in my other post,

how awfully brave I must be to share my beginner's attempt with my blog friends. ;)

And as if I didn't have total respect for Pysanky artists before, I sure do now!

A shout-out to Northampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania,

and its Parks & Recreation department!

April 14, 2014

Peeps & Company

A road trip to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania!

How timely that, only a week before Easter, we'd come upon a store

made famous by none other than the Easter Bunny himself!

Peeps! Those sugar-coated marshmallow treats,
without which, no Easter basket would be complete!

Here's a quick history of Peeps, and Just Born, Inc., the company that makes them:
Sam Born came to the U.S. from Russia in 1910.
He invented chocolate sprinkles (aka jimmies),
plus a machine to insert the sticks into lollipops,
for which he was given the key to the city of San Francisco!
The Just Born, Inc. manufacturing company began in 1923.
In 1953, Sam acquired a company that made marshmallow chicks by hand.
A year later, his son Bob started mass-producing them much faster by machine
and officially trademarked them as Peeps.
In the early 1980's the Peeps marshmallow bunnies were added.

Sharing my photos of this bright, colorful, super-sweet shop!

Rainbow gift-packs of Peeps ~ "It's not a party without the chicks!"

A Peep mug-shot.

Lots of Peep novelties: magnets, stickers, socks, key chains, and more.

Plenty of plush!

Lots of novelty tee-shirts!

Our favorite~ Imagine World Peeps!

The shop's centerpiece is this display, topped with a giant, lighted...

...color-changing Peep!

Peep-mobile sighting!

As of this March 2018 update,
The Peeps & Company store is no longer in Bethlehem, PA! :(

There are 2 locations:

The Promenade Shops, Center Valley, PA

and

National Harbor, MD.

Here's the Peeps & Company website!

April 9, 2014

Jesus is Loving Barabbas

Sacrifice by DoulosArt

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
2 Corinthians 5:21

As we celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of Christ,
listen to Judah Smith's contemporary, spot-on explanation
of what it all means, and just why He did what He did.
Powerful.

Judah Smith is a pastor at The City Church in Seattle, Washington.
Here's his Facebook page.

April 3, 2014

Ukrainian Pysanky Easter Eggs

Pysanky. That primitive Ukrainian folk art involving great skill, lots of time,
and no doubt, a steady hand to create those over-the-top fabulous Easter eggs!
I've long been in awe of them, and so a blog feature was inevitable!
Pysanky is plural for pysanka, a Ukrainian word from pysaty, meaning "to write".
The most common way to dye pysanky is with the wax resist method known as batik.

When I came across Katya Trischuk and her Etsy shop, Ukrainian Easter Eggs,
I just knew you'd be as delighted as I was to see her colorful creations!