Easter Weekend

So, Easter has come and gone, however the weekend is still here.  Having Friday and Monday off was an extremely welcome change of pace for this man.  Four of us guys played Age of Empires II (Conquerors Expansion, of course) until 6am on Thursday night/Friday morning.  What a blessed time.  Friday I did three things (aside from the usual bathroom, eating, etc): Went for a short hike with Kendra's family, went to work, played Age of Empires until 1.  What a blessed day.  Saturday I did a little bit more than that.  Saturday was my birthday!  I turned twenty-one and partied hard... with some Age of Empires!!  Haha, yeah, I played a bit Saturday too.  Jon and I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast, it was glorious.  Then I went to work, Skyped my family a wee bit after work, and watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off with Kendra.  Then I went to bed.  Sunday I went to church at Community Mennonite with Kendra as well.  That is an interesting church, I like it because it is nice.  I think that is enough of a description.  Then I went to lunch with my family (well, my aunts and grandparents and cousins and such) and got a nice Easter Bunny birthday cake from my Grammy!  It was great. :)

So then I watched a movie, made some pizza, hung out with Kendra, and played more Age of Empires.  That game is stupid because it is so awesome.  We just got it last week and we need to stop playing it, but we won't cause it is great.  Yup yup.

In other news, I have switched my major to accounting.  How about that.  This means that I will be taking summer courses in '14 and one extra semester, but I will graduate with 150 credits, which is enough to take the CPA exam!  That is exciting.  But this extra work may mean that I won't play soccer next year, I just need to decide that and let coach now at some point....

I probably should have spent more time this weekend reflecting on God and all that, but I really didn't.  I'm not going to say I am fine with that, because I am really not, but I won't say that I had a bad weekend because I didn't, I have a fantastic weekend.  I just often think to myself how our lives as Christians should take up all of our lives and not just part of it, yet I don't really practice it that much.  It is just a hard thing to do.

But I have also been thinking about how we are supposed to do things as Christians, such as communion and what sort of songs we sing.  At Eastside church last Sunday we had a potluck and took communion together after we had all sat down with our food, and it felt so natural.  It really felt like that is how God calls us to be a community, around food.  I know that joke about how part of Mennonites faith revolves around food, but I think it is true.  We are called to be a community of Christ and food is something that everybody has in common.  We may eat or prepare it differently, or be allergic to some things, or whatnot, but seriously, a table full of food is an amazing place to get to know somebody, to share struggles, to share joys, to pray, to take communion.  When people go on dates, they usually go to get some food somewhere.  When families get together to celebrate holiday's, or just to get together, it is usually around food, around a meal.  So yes, it is funny that Mennonites have so many potlucks and "are happy" about the food that they make, but I believe it is also central to Jesus' teachings.  Not necessarily the food exactly, but the community that stems from the food.  That is what Christians are called to, a community of love and fellowship and taking each others burdens.  Food brings people together, even foreign dignitaries and all that jazz, and it is a form of community that, as Christians, we should not give up a chance to partake in.  This is also awesome because I love food, and hopefully you do too.

Another thing related to communion.  At church on Easter Sunday we took communion and sang this song and I took a bit of exception to it.  I have often heard about how weird we Christians are for drinking the blood and eating the flesh of Christ.  People might be all like, "Oh, vampires and cannibals, awesome."  And in this song it said something along the lines of, "Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink of His blood, and drink of His blood, you shall not have life within you." However, it is my understanding that we do not drink Christ's blood nor eat His flesh.  We eat bread and drink wine (or grape juice) to remember Christ's sacrifice for us.  Bread is sorta like flesh so it is a good reminder, and wine (or grape juice) is sorta like blood so it is a good reminder.  Kinda.  Anyway, the song was not a good representation of what we believe.  It made me turned off of the thought of Christianity.  Admittedly, there are those who partake in communion who do believe it really is Christ's blood and Christ's flesh (many call it the Eucharist or the Blessed Sacrament, I believe), but it is not I.  That is just weird.  And while we cannot know the workings of God, I do know that when that bread slides down my throat or the juice does, it is just that, bread and juice.  There is no transubstantiation there.  However, I guess the real belief is that it changes and we can not notice it, but Jesus says, "Do this is remembrance of Me." To me, this means that we are remembering what He did for us.  So yes, I won't be singing that song (at least that verse) any time soon.

That is what I have for today.  It has been quite awhile since I have posted here.  Shucks-man, I ain't got no discipline in this here area of mine life.
God bless,
Tyler.

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