By Lilly Lewin,
Long ago I found Joyce Rupp’s wonderful book The Cup of Our Life. I have used it for years in my own prayer time and it inspired me to create a way to pray through Holy Week using our coffee/ tea cups… Last Friday, we prayed with Jesus as he took the cup of suffering for each of us. On Easter Sunday, we drank from the CUP OF LOVE. The Living Water was poured out for us on Good Friday and NOW the CUP is refilled and overflows with that LIVING WATER that will never run dry! And that CUP overflows with abundant love!
We have entered into the season of Easter, or Eastertide. It’s a whole season of the Church calendar/church year so you haven’t missed Easter, we are just getting started! We get to experience the HOPE and LOVE of Easter and celebrate Resurrection for 50 days… until Pentecost Sunday (May 23rd this year!).
This gives me HOPE! This reminds me that I don’t have to feel badly if I haven’t experienced much Easter yet. Or if I’m still in shock and traumatized from the craziness of all that has been the Year of Covid, I can start to baby step towards the joy and hope of Easter. And if you work on a church staff, you may be exhausted from all the details of worship during Holy Week, and you might just need a long nap before starting to truly experience the joy of Easter for yourself!
Grab a coffee cup/tea cup. Maybe even find one to represent NEW LIFE and LIVING EASTER to you! I have this cup with the butterfly and other symbols on it that I’m using to remind me of Easter this year. It’s not a new cup, it has chips and flaws, just like me!
HOLD YOUR CUP
What is in your cup today? Talk to Jesus about this… it might be fatigue, frustration, sorrow, joy, peace or something else? Talk to Jesus about this, then Empty your cup of the things you don’t want or need today.
As you hold your cup, consider how you need Jesus to fill it during this Easter Season! What do you want/need Jesus to refill your cup with in the next few days? FILL YOUR CUP WITH SOMETHING TO DRINK AND allow Jesus to fill you up with His great love!
Have you been drinking from an Easter Cup this week?
Have you been tasting the HOPE of NEW LIFE AND RESURRECTION? As you drink from your cup today and this weekend, allow Jesus to fill you with HOPE each day.
The First CUP in our EASTER CUP Series is THE CUP OF HOPE.
Pick up your cup
Hold it
Consider what is bringing you Hope today.
Because of Easter, have new hope… like “Star Wars”. Hope, after so much loss and despair has now returned!
Jesus is no longer dead!
Death doesn’t get to win!
The Empire doesn’t get to win!
We can once again be people of Hope not despair!
HOLD YOUR CUP
HOLD YOUR CUP
What is bringing you Hope today? Maybe even take time to make a list of all the things that are reminding you of HOPE and NEW LIFE so you can notice and remember. Keep the list going during the week and read it out loud next Friday to see all the beautiful, hopeful things that are happening in and around you!
As you drink from your cup today, consider all the things bringing Hope into your life, your world, your home.
If you are having trouble
Ask Jesus to show you .
As you fill your cup, let it be filled with HOPE!
Drink in the Hope of Resurrection
Drink from the Cup of Hope today, and everyday this week.
For me… Hope looks like the Birds in my front yard… and getting the vaccine.
For me the shot/needle/jab is
A sign
A gift
A cup of Hope that we can drink in today!
It’s a gift
Truly a miracle
Im so grateful.
The vaccine is a cup of Hope for me
And I am praying that more people will put away the cup of fear and take the vaccine:shot/jab/needle as an act of loving our neighbors and drinking in Hope!
Pick up your cup
Hold it
What is bringing you Hope today? Drink IN THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION and NEW LIFE!
Make a List of Hopeful Things
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com