Easter Challenges

On the evening of Easter Sunday, we hosted a New Light Easter Celebration at our house, complete with a yummy potluck dinner, an Easter egg hunt in the backyard, and worship. The food was great, and it was really awesome to have the two small groups (the Monday night group and the Thursday night group) together. Three people brand new to our community came, too, so it gave them a chance to meet others who have been part of New Light for a while.

The Easter egg hunt was fun. My neighbor saw me hiding all the plastic eggs out in the backyard and hollered over the fence, "Now that's what I'm talking about!" I don't think he expected to see a dozen adults and a couple of teenagers fanning out, scooping up the goods.

When we came inside, of course we enjoyed the chocolate and jelly beans inside, but first we had everybody put aside all the yellow eggs into a separate basket. Later in the evening, we introduced "The Great Easter Egg Challenge" and had everyone pick a yellow egg from the basket. Inside each egg, besides a couple of pieces of chocolate, was a little slip of paper, on which we had written a challenge. As we went around, each person opened his or her egg and shared the challenge.

Here's a list of some of the things people are doing between now and April 20:

• Read all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).
• Have a conversation with a homeless person.
• Spend an hour in prayer one day a week, either in one sitting or up to three 20-minute sittings over the course of one day.
• Visit a church, synagogue, or mosque to experience worship in a tradition other than your own.
• Make a sacrificial gift to help care for people in need through United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) or another worthy organization.
• Talk to a friend, co-worker, family member, or neighbor about your faith.
• Invite a friend, co-worker, family member, or neighbor to New Light.
• Forgive someone against whom you have a grudge. If this requires great interior work, take a significant step towards forgiveness.
• Practice at least one random act of kindness a week, for the next four weeks.
• Fast from something important in your life in order to make more space for focusing on God.
• Write at least three letters to legislators about an issue(s) of justice that you are concerned about.
• Over the next four weeks live as simply as possible; limit your purchases to the essentials.

We have covenanted with each other to support one another and pray for each other as we undertake these challenges. At our next monthly potluck dinner/ worship gathering, we'll spend some time sharing experiences.

More about my own challenge later...