The Saturday 7

1. Justin's parents finally came home from Florida. We had dinner with them on Sunday, then they introduced us to a new game: Blank Slate. It was fun because even the kids could play. Levi was cracking himself up.

We're glad to have Grandpa and Grandma home - and not just because she cooks for us every other Sunday. 😂 While we were there, Lucy raided Donna's book closet and took home the first five Baxter family books by Karen Kingsbury. I gave her the Bailey Flanagan books a while ago because I thought she'd appreciate those more since they're about a teenager. But she was mad that I started her part-way through the series. So now she's going to start from the beginning, and once she finishes we're going to watch the new Baxter Family TV series!! I hope she reads fast!

2. Levi had to give a presentation at school about blacksmiths in colonial days. He was so excited, and had so much fun working on his little spiel. Here he is practicing for Lena:

Safety first with the gloves and tongs. He warmed his iron (tin foil) over the fire, then hammered it into a shape.

3. We've been continuing with our new screen time rules of no screen time during the week and as much as you want on the weekend. I think this is the first week that Levi didn't beg to watch TV very much. He suddenly got really into perler beads, and spent hours working on creations one afternoon.

With all his finished products.

Lena too!

4. I had Tuesday off, so I did all the housework and then made this elaborate soup and two loaves of bread from scratch! I'm trying to convince Justin that if I quit my job to become a full time homemaker, this is what he has to look forward to. So far, it's not working. (Especially because neither the soup nor the bread was that good.)

5. I think I wrote this last year, but it's worth repeating. While Christmas will always be my favorite holiday, the older I get the more I appreciate Good Friday and Easter. I've been going to a study at church on the basics of theology. This week, appropriately enough, was about the person and work of Christ - specifically his atonement on the cross. It's one of those doctrines that have bottomless depths. I could study it for years and still be amazed by something new (and I kind of have, thanks to my years of Christian education). There is just so much incredible symbolism throughout the Old Testament that points to Jesus as our ultimate atoning sacrifice. I'd love to read a book on the subject if anyone has any suggestions. But one of my favorites is the veil in the tabernacle.

I had a very quirky Bible teacher at my Christian school in 9th grade, but he did a lesson with us that has stuck with me ever since. He made a replica of the tabernacle and had us walk through it - from the alter where we spread ketchup-blood on the horns to the laver where we washed our hands. There was a separate office attached to the classroom that represented the holy of holies. We had to go through a door to get there. Somehow that made an impression on me that there was a distinct separation between the regular tabernacle and the holy of holies - where God's presence rested. Only the high priest could go in there, only once a year after he killed an animal to atone for his sin, and he wore bells and a rope on his robe so that if he offended God and was struck dead the people could pull him out. The separation between God and sinners was serious. And the veil in the tabernacle was the symbol of that. In Jesus' day, the temple was still in operation. The priests were still offering sacrifices. The veil was firmly in place to protect the people from the presence of God. But when Jesus died the curtain spontaneously tore in two. No one was standing there with scissors or a sword. Most people were probably at the spectacle of the cross. But there would've been some priests in the temple at the time who saw that curtain rip. What do you think went through their minds? How could they not recognize it as an act of God and understand the meaning behind it?

I also think we sometimes gloss over the other events that took place during the crucifixion. Matthew 27:45 says, "From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land." Um, that would've been terrifying. Why did it get dark in the middle of the day? I know we're supposed to have a total solar eclipse in a week, but it's going to be dark for a few minutes. Three hours?! Then there's this:

50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

I'm sorry, what? There was an earthquake and then dead people came to life?! How did people just go on with their daily lives after that, denying that Jesus was anything special? And how often do I go about my life as normal without a constant amazement of Jesus' remarkable sacrifice? I love this weekend because it reorients my perspective. I had the thought once that we should have a Good Friday service like once a month - and then I realized that's what communion is. A time of remembrance. A renewal of perspective.

6. One more thing in this little sermon: I worry sometimes that because my kids have grown up in church and Christian school, they've heard this story so many times that it becomes routine. They know all the right answers and they don't have an emotional response to the phrase, "Jesus died on the cross for my sins." It's just fact to them. But I've been struck lately by the value God placed on tradition in the Old Testament. I just started Judges in my chronological Bible read-through and it is heartbreaking. The people were slaves in Egypt for four hundred years. God miraculously rescued them. He appeared to them on Mount Sinai, made his dwelling among them in the desert, and set up a complete system of laws and sacrifices so they could have communication with them. He told them over and over to worship him alone, to eradicate the Canaanites, to destroy their idols, to be separate, different, holy. He guaranteed them blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. (Read the end of Deuteronomy for some truly horrific curses he promised.) He parted the Jordan river and they crossed over miraculously, then he gave them victory in all their battles. And yet, within one generation the people completely forsake him. They intermarry and worship false gods and become just like the pagans around them. One generation! Judges 2:10 says, "After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel." What the world?! Did their parents not tell them? Remember all those feasts the Lord prescribed in Leviticus? They were supposed to be doing all these things to remember! They set up altars and ebenezer stones, the Shema told the parents to teach the things of God to their children when they sit and when they rise. Why didn't they do it??

So I'm going to keep telling my kids the Bible stories (and that they aren't just "stories" - they're truth!), and taking them to church, and quizzing them about the Bible at the dinner table. Of course their salvation must become their own, and there's no guarantee that my investment in their spiritual lives will reap any dividends, but dangit I'm going to try. I'm not going to let it be written of me that my descendants didn't know the Lord or what he's done for us!

7. I don't have any memes today. Just pics. And some songs.