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Maundy Thursday _ Last Day of Lent

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And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  Luke 22:15 ESV

Maundy Thursday is the somewhat overlooked day of Easter Week. But for Jesus this was the crucial time to prepare His disciples for His departure. At the Last Supper Jesus gave the New Covenant to both His friends and through them to us who are believers today. Every time we take communion in our various churches we continue to remember His death and atonement as people have done for 2,000 years.

At the Last Supper Jesus gave not only a New Covenant but He also set the example for a new lifestyle. While those we consider saints today were arguing over who was the most important, Jesus went and filled a basin with water and began to wash their feet.

When supper was finished Jesus led His eleven faithful disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. There He fully and finally accepted His coming death on the cross. There He woke them again and again and urged them to pray also until Judas came with the soldiers. And then the hour had come for His sacrifice. Even when everyone ran away, Jesus stayed behind, accepting the cost of our salvation. He was the Lamb of God and this gift of His body and blood we are remembering today because it means the redemption of us all!

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Anxious for Nothing!

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Be anxious for nothing
Wrote Saint Paul from the jail
Give God every worry each fear and detail
Remember to thank Him and praise from your heart
For He has been watching our life from the start

And He answers with peace greater than we can know
His love gives us rest
In Christ Jesus we hope

So if you are passing through sorrows and tests
Put it all in His hands
Only God knows what's best!

Anxious for nothing by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021
All rights reserved

The Mocking Bird Still Sings

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But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord. Psalm 115:18 KJV

A few weeks ago, we paid a man to cut the tree behind our house down to a smaller and more manageable size. Because of the small space between our home and the one behind us it had to be done, but the bare and stumpy looking limbs left behind were not so wonderful to look at. My original dismay was softened considerably yesterday when I went out to sit on our back porch and saw that the mockingbird who often chose to regularly visit our tree had come back. He was not at all disturbed by the changes to our poor tree. He just flew in, perched on one of the stumps and proceeded to sing his usual song!

I do not know what has been going on in your life during the pandemic but in mine it sometimes feels as if things have been ruthlessly chopped away just like what happened with our tree. Maybe my bird friend is teaching us all that God is still God and no matter what things look like we can sing. We can bless the Lord both in good times and in bad because He is worthy of praise. Even if we must perch on the stumpy branches left in our life to sing our melody, remember that God is listening. Just as He was the God of the pruning so He will also be the God of new life and we can praise Him because our tree will one day bud again and then flower and grow forevermore!