A Joy List

By now all of you have finished your Lenten homework, and if you haven’t perhaps it has occurred to you that “the grade is always A” according to my theology professor and to Jesus. We’ve landed in this season of Easter well prepared for new, refreshed, resurrected life with one another. The season, of course, is marked by joy and celebration. And, those two things—joy and celebration—guide our practice of Easter just as examination and special devotion guide us during Lent.

I have a couple of thoughts on the practice side of Easter, a thing or two or three we might consider doing for the next 50 days (Easter ends at Pentecost.) We don’t HAVE to do a thing in order to inherit the gift of Easter, and, yet, practices put our minds and hearts in the right place most of the time. So here we go—Easter practices:

Consider throwing a party. There’s no need to tell people you’re partying because it’s Easter (the Season, not the Sunday) and the gift of new life and grace it represents. Just throw a party—welcome and entertain and host people you love or someone you want to get to know a little better. Party on.

Make a “Joy List.” Many of us have had practices of creating Gratitude Lists. Make a list each day or each week writing down things that bring joy into your life (i.e. grandkids, Grand Teton Natural Park, melting snow!!!, the love and commitment of St. John’s to the community of Jackson.)

Start anew! Have you been struggling with an issue? Carrying around some heavy baggage? Then drop it like a hot rock! Sometimes that’s not so easy to accomplish. Give us a call, we’d love to try to help and can promise we’ll at the very least listen carefully and lovingly.

Here we sit, solidly in Easter now, in the hand of an unfailingly competent, wholly devoted God who made us from the substance of Love, itself. Happy Easter, y’all!

Love,

Jimmy