50 ways to Practice Resurrection during the 50 days of Eastertide
The last couple of years, we've celebrated the Great 50 Days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday (aka, Eastertide)with a series I've dubbed Practice Resurrection (after the Wendell Berry poem). It's one of my favorite series all year, and I'm excited to start again. I need your photos and captions to make it work. To help prime the pump, I thought you might enjoy the list of ideas I brainstormed for simple ways to practice resurrection.
Before I share the list, here's how to share your photo story:
1. Add something to your day that helps you practice resurrection (one day or fifty days -doesn't matter).
2. Take a picture and write a description in 1-50 words.
3. Share it with me via email, share on my Facebook page, or tag me on Instagram (you can tag me with @asacramentallife or use the #PracticeResurrection2017 hashtag.)
Listen to the Easter portion of Handel's Messiah.
Use a special candle at family meals.
Add a "hallelujah" song (or proclamation) to the grace you say before each meal.
Talk about baptism, retell baptism stories, set out family baptism photographs.
Read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (or the entire Chronicles of Narnia series), preferably out loud, and with children in the room.
Drape crosses and other liturgical art in your house with white or gold ribbons or strips of cloth.
Take a short trip to a beautiful cathedral or prayer garden.
Visit a botanical garden.
Sing and play instruments often (or invite friends over who do).
Plan an evening sing-a-long (maybe the first campfire of the season).
Host a different group of friends for dinner each week during the season.
Go to lunch with a different group of friends after church each Sunday of the season.
Choose a place in your home to hang a visual reminder of resurrection (print, painting, verse).
Keep fresh flowers on the table throughout the season.
Take walks in scenic locations - maybe each Sunday afternoon of the season. Learn how to pray as you walk.
Take a half day off work for a quiet retreat.
Plant a flower garden (or vegetables) as a tactile reminder of Jesus as the vine and ourselves as the branches (Jn. 15:5).
Take a dance class.
Throw a spontaneous dance party in your living room. (Here's 12 dance moves I dare you try!)
Order a butterfly garden kit and watch the miracle of metamorphosis.
Keep a daily gratitude journal to help you pay attention to ordinary signs of life and joy.
Read the Scripture passages recounting Jesus' post-resurrection appearances to his followers. (You can follow the daily lectionary readings listed in my Sunday blog posts.)
Ask God for a renewed joy in the weekly liturgy of Communion.
Take a picnic breakfast to the park (or just the back yard) and read the story of Jesus making breakfast for his disciples (Jn. 21).
Visit a farm or petting zoo where you might see baby animals.
Visit a sheep farm or try to meet a real-life shepherd. Ask them what it means to be a good shepherd.
Start a hobby you've always wanted to pursue.
Pick up an old hobby that used to bring you joy.
Take an art class - drawing, painting, photography, calligraphy, ceramic, sculpting, improv comedy!
Watch a movie that always makes you laugh.
Start music lessons or join a community choir.
Join a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Search for new veggie recipes.
Plan one or more "sunrise services" for morning prayer, Scripture reading, or just quiet contemplation at a nearby scenic location.
Build a new piece of furniture.
Repair or restore old furniture, appliances or fixtures in your home (or someone else's). Maybe even repurpose curb-side trash to furniture treasure.
Paint a room in your house with a fresh new color.
Pray for your enemies. Forgive someone who wronged you.
Invite your neighbor over for drinks on the porch.
Bake bread (or try your hand at braiding bread). Give some away.
Ride a bike.
Learn a new game, or re-learn a game from your childhood. (Hopscotch, anyone?)
Make homemade ice cream.
Rent a canoe or kayak for a day.
Learn the names of the trees in your neighborhood.
Adopt a kitten or puppy.
Wash your car by hand.
Write a poem or short story. (Read Wendell Berry's poem for inspiration!)
Go to the park, and swing on the playground. Blow bubbles. Make sidewalk chalk art.
Try a new ethnic food.
On Ascension Day, find a spot outdoors - a park, a hillside, a body of water - some place where you can see the open sky and clouds, to sit for an hour of meditation on the exaltation of Christ to glory.
Choose 1 idea or 50, but whatever you do, do it with gusto! Also, thanks to Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross for some of the ideas above.
I've been posting some photos on Instagram, using the #PracticeResurrection2017 hashtag. You can see that I keep it pretty simple! I find a lot of joy, though, in seeing these ordinary choices during my day as ways to practice a life that trumps death, a resurrection kind of life.
I know this looks like Bourbon, but it's really delicious Darjeeling tea that a kind man offered us today. Grace Farms is one of our favorite places to read, write and study during the week. #PracticeResurrection2017
Even if I didn't like the taste, I'd keep eating fresh veggies because they're so pretty. Looking forward to farmer's market season here in the Northeast! #PracticeResurrection2017
Here's how you can share your photo stories with me for the blog:
1. Add something to your day that helps you practice resurrection (one day or fifty days -doesn't matter).
2. Take a picture and write a description in 1-50 words.
3. Share it with me via email, share on my Facebook page, or tag me on Instagram (you can tag me with @asacramentallife or use the #PracticeResurrection2017 hashtag.)
I look forward to hearing from you!