Easter the first

Jessica: So today was our first Easter as a married couple. In the past few years, we have gone to Wes' churches because I didn't have any special connection to churches near TLU. For all of Lent, we've been attending Prince of Peace Lutheran, so I got to have my traditional old Lutheran Easter this year. Besides the whole different denomination thing, we've been having two basic discussions about our Easter traditions:

Wes' dad always used to cook chicken fajitas for breakfast, while my family had brunch at church and cooked a delicious Easter lunch of ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, veggies, and a few other things that we then shared with some of our closest friends. Although we've spend our Easter with just the two of us, we've combined these traditions together. We had my Easter lunch, and we're having chicken fajitas for dinner. I'm pretty excited about this part of our Easter--mostly because it includes food.

Our second discussion (fight?) about Easter is about our favorite song. We Lutherans call it "Jesus Christ is Risen Today," while the crazy Methodist call it "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." Wes likes to say that because Charles Wesley wrote it, he's obviously right, but I think we both know who's right.

All in all, it's been a fantastic Easter, and I'm excited that we've managed to get past our differences and have a great family time.

Wes: Today I realized a few things:

The first was that if you value your hearing, do not sit directly in front of the trumpets. They sounded great, and I think that it was a really nice touch to the service.

Second, it is completely alright to sing Christ the Lord when everyone else around you sings Jesus Christ. It might be that everyone looks at you funny, but hey, what is life about if it is not doing things that you love and make people look at you funny? I just had to deal with Jessica elbowing me in the side really hard. I didn't mind the change of Christ the Lord to Jesus Christ, but it was sad that most of the rest of the words were different as well. I'm used to not having to look at the hymnal, but that was not the case today.

I also realized how much I missed the Easter Doxology. Pretty much, it's my favorite part of the Easter service, and they did not do it. For those of you who do not know, the Easter Doxology is the Doxology (Praise God from Whom all blessings flow...) to the tune of All Creatures of Our God and King, one of my favorite hymns. I'll just have to sing it around the apartment and drive Jessica crazy...

I am loving the Easter traditions that we are starting, though. A weird mix of my stuff and her stuff, but a good mix. I am also loving my beautiful wife and all of the wonderful memories we are already making together.

Well, until next time, you stay classy, World Wide Web.
Wes and Jess