Can I just say that the God we serve is amazing? Today was a most wonderful Easter as I celebrated all day, singing at four services with the choir. I also witnessed over 50 baptisms and anticipate hearing about many more tomorrow as I read about what happened at the other Mars Hill campuses. I saw several kids from youth group being baptized today and professing their faith in Jesus Christ to save them from their sins by his death and resurrection. I'm not sure I've ever sung so joyfully in my life! My cheeks hurt from smiling so much and I had to fight back tears during some of the more touching moments. Wow! Happy Easter!!
We also got to eat over at Caleb and Laura Bell's house for an Easter lunch/dinner. Caleb was baptized today and invited us over after the morning services. We celebrated Thanksgiving at their house as well last year. It was a nice time to talk and rest up before singing in the final service at night. Kayle came to the first two services of the day and baked bread during the 11:30 service (so we'd have something to bring to the Bells'). He stayed home for the 5:00 service, but we watched the main campus' (Ballard) live 7:30 service after I got home. Just couldn't get enough of those baptisms. Some were planned but many were spontaneous as people felt convicted by the gospel and professed faith for the first time! God is certainly moving here in Seattle...
Overall, this was a really good week at school for me. My kids made a lot of progress, and I received a donation of board games for our next literacy event. For the next two weeks, the whole middle is taking the WASL standardized test in the mornings. So, I'll have a few extra days off (since the daily schedule is changed a lot) and a few days that I can come in later than usual.
At Proxy on Wednesday, we had our "4th week feed," a youth group meal that has recently evolved to include parents and siblings as well. We shared a meal of pizza and cookies and discussed prayer at our tables. Honestly, it was pretty cool to hear a variety of ages, from young kids to parents, speaking about their prayer lives and what prayer is and why we pray. The idea is that by having meals in youth group with the whole family and modeling some dinnertime Bible discussion, we can get more families comfortable about talking about God at home on a regular basis.
On Thursday, I had a 4-hour-long choir and technical practice for the Good Friday service. Then, on Friday, our choir sang two awesome songs in Latin at each of the two services at night. The whole evening focused on reading an account of Jesus' last supper, betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, and burial compiled from the four Gospels. It was a raw, heart-breaking, and powerful time of remembering all that Jesus did in our place so our sins could be forgiven. The question of the night was "who killed God?" The answer: "God killed God". "Why? So that I don't have to take the penalty for my own sins!" Jesus took the wrath of God upon Himself, in all its somber brutality, so that I can be reconciled to a holy, just God. Wow...
On Saturday, I had another 4 hour practice for Easter. We were supposed to sing two songs, one in Latin and another a gospel piece. However, the Latin one was nixed (didn't really fit in with the flow of the service) and 5 more praise songs were added! We ended up being recruited to sing with the praise band for the whole service. Alleluia! I get to sing literally ALL DAY on Easter...does it get any better?
I should be able to post some cool pictures soon from Kayle's snowshoeing last weekend. I saw them online at Joe's house but have to hunt them down at home still. We love you and miss you!
Angie and Kayle
P.S. Comment every once in a while to say "hi". I'm sad I don't get any comments any more... I changed the settings so you shouldn't have to sign in to be able to post.
P.P.S. I woke up this morning (Monday) to see a new blog post that Pastor Mark had written last night about Easter: http://blog.marshillchurch.org/2009/04/12/enjoying-god%E2%80%99s-easter-grace/
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