hI Katrina here again
Nigel i forgot what to do with stuff, i just came across the Blessing that we use as a family.
the words are

May the Lord bless us and keep us,
With his power be ever beside us,
May the Lord look with favor upon us,
And give us his peace.

So there it is for you all, Nigel could you put it on the resources page for me please.
Ta
Katrina

HI all Katrina here
i have a question about the retreat, as some of us will be staying over until Easter Sunday I wanted to ask about family traditions with regard to easter eggs.

We have as a family the tradition of an early or (earlyish) morning easter egg hunt followed by sharing out of the eggs. Thought it might work well in the farm setting but wanted to get some feedback to see whether others celebrated using eggs or used other things, forms or traditions. Would love to hear your comments.

thanks Katrina

Guidelines for the bride

I have come across this great site which is Follow the Rabbi.  It's worth a look.  Part of the site has "faith lessons" and one is entitled Korazin / Mt of Beatitudes.  

It explores our relationship with God using wedding language;

After asking a girl to marry him, the son would return to his village and build new rooms onto his father's home. The son, anxious to be married, waited for the day when his father declared that the building was complete. Then he could finally marry his bride and bring her to their new home.

Jesus presented a beautiful picture of heaven when he said, "In my Father's house are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2—3). This word-picture presented Jesus as a bridegroom, preparing new rooms for his followers in the insula of heaven.

The lesson speaks of how Jesus drew on many family practises that were common in his day, in this case he weaves in a vision of the kingdom of God through the custom of marriage.  as Jesus started speaking these words stated above, his followers would have immediately identified it as wedding / marriage language.

The story then goes on to explore "guidelines for the bride";

When God established the covenant with his people, Moses climbed a mountain to receive the covenant law. Jesus, who came to fulfill that covenant, gave the new covenant guidelines on a mountain as well. But instead of the wilderness mountain at Sinai, Jesus taught on a hill near Korazin.

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount gave new guidelines for his "brides" to follow as they prepared for his return. He challenged them with the Beatitudes—a list of virtues that could change the world.

Jesus knew that it would be difficult for his followers, living in an evil world while they awaited his return. His Sermon on the Mount presented a new battle plan for confronting that evil. But it sounded like a strange plan: Fight evil with the weapons of service and love.

In the face of violence and hate, Jesus wanted his brides to demonstrate mercy, meekness, and compassion. By living out the challenges of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' "brides" would demonstrate the greatest love of all—the love of their spiritual Bridegroom.

I wonder what stories Jesus would tell to describe the kingdom of God and his love for his children (brides) in today's language?  I just love it how Jesus used common things / everyday things to get his message across, and that his interactions with people were humble and "plain" - hanging out at people's houses for dinner, attending weddings, fishing in boats - normal everyday things!  And through these things he was able to construct love stories about God and his kingdom.  

It strikes me that we are all common everyday people.  Do we tend to tell stories about God in unusual / abstract ways through obscure actions that common people around us don't tend to understand?

Chris.