He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

I think the aspect of the gospel I've been most excited about in the last year has been the resurrection - the fact that I worship and serve a Living God. The fact that death did not have mastery over Jesus. The fact that Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life", and He proved He is the Life because He rose from the dead. The fact that, "just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." And, the fact that, "In His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." I have a living hope.

Easter kind of snuck up on me, because this year it came on the tail end of spring break. Usually we've got some time between our spring break trip and Easter, and so usually I go home. This year, for some reason, I didn't really feel like driving almost two hours up to Gilbert on Saturday after having driven 13 hours from the Springs to Tucson on Friday. Go figure. Yet, I was torn because I didn't know how I was going to celebrate Easter in Tucson, and I wanted to REALLY celebrate that I have a Living Hope in Jesus.

As I sat around in my pajamas on Saturday morning, still contemplating whether it would be worth it for me to drive home, but dreading the thought of another drive, Lori came out and we started to discuss possible plans. I'll admit, this whole episode gave me new insight into myself. You see, I had just finished a week-long trip full of people time and input. I was pretty wiped. But as we talked about the possibility of having dinner and communion together, I suddenly burst with energy and excitement about how I was going to make it happen. Fitting, isn't it, that I would discover on this holiday all about life, that serving God and His people by entertaining gives me life?

So, I jumped up, found some recipes, got dressed, and went shopping. The rest of Saturday and much of Sunday was spent cleaning, decorating, and cooking. Sunday morning, I had sweet time with Jesus to start the day, and as I cooked and cleaned, I meditated on Jesus as my Life-giver. It was a wonderful day. And that only just brings us to the main event.

We started the evening together with drinks, brie and crackers as an appetizer.

Then, we sat down to our Easter table.Notice all the forks? It was my first time doing courses, and I loved setting up each place setting with a salad fork, a dinner fork, and a dessert fork. I also had a dessert spoon (yes, TWO desserts!), and I went and bought cloth napkins for the event - a worthy investment, I think.

Now, as we sat down for the first course, and I jumped right back up to get my camera (because I wanted a picture of each course, of course!), Steven says to me, "You like taking pictures of your food, don't you? I bet you're going to post those on your blog." To which I heartily replied, "YES!" So, Steven, here you go.

Course #1 - Crisp Polenta Rounds with Pesto and Toasted Pine NutsIt's not the greatest picture, but I thought they turned out really well. In fact, other than the dessert, this might have been my favorite thing we ate.

Course #2 - Pear and Walnut salad (Forgive the blurry picture)

Oh, there's a good picture!

And another one.

And one of my favorites from the night.

Oh, there I am!

Okay, okay, moving on. Course #3 - The Main Course: Honey-Glazed Ham, Deviled Eggs, and Roasted Potatoes with Green Beans and Tomatoes

And that brings us to Course #4 - Creme Brulee and Chocolate Raspberry bars. Lori did the chocolate, and I got to try out my new kitchen torch and ramekins for the first time. At first, I wasn't sure what I was doing.

Then I kind of got the hang of it.

And we ended up with some amazing Creme Brulee.

The meal was absolutely delightful, and since we've discussed recently how much I enjoy my team, I won't go into that again. Just know that on that Sunday night, I felt like those were the exact five people I wanted to be celebrating New Life with. And, the meal wasn't even my favorite part of celebrating.

After dinner, we moved into the living room, where we had communion.So...all my food pictures turned out blurry. I blame Steven. I think he jinxed me with his comment about me taking pictures of food and posting them on my blog. Or could it have been that I didn't have the flash on when I was taking the food pictures? Hmmm. But, I digress.

Communion was definitely my favorite part of the evening. Diana led us in some worship on her guitar, and then Steven shared with us some from the Word. He focused on the freedom we have in Jesus, culminating in Galatians 5:1 - "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." He then had each of us share an area of our lives where we want to claim the freedom Christ offers. It was a sweet time of transparency, fellowship, and community with one another, and it made it that much more meaningful when we ate the bread - "Christ's body, broken for you" - and drank the wine - "Christ's blood, shed for you".

It was an incredible Easter celebration I won't soon forget.

Oh, and then we all changed out of our dress clothes into comfy clothes and watched Hitch. What a blessing to share life deeply and then laugh together at Kevin James and his hysterical antics, all in the same night! Have I mentioned I enjoy sharing life with these friends?