Spending Your Money Part 1

I know. What audacity! I don't blog for weeks and now, when I do, it is to spend your money. Actually, it is just a suggestion, but a very good one.

Easter is coming. In fact it is coming quickly. If you look at the calendar you will see that this year it is about as early as it can be. This year it falls on March 23. I only realized that because I schedule the music in our church and I must be thinking ahead and planning for such events. Anyway, you are probably wondering how this applies to how I would like to spend your money. Glad you asked and I will eventually get to the point.

What do you typically do for Easter? By that question I don't mean Easter day, Easter baskets, ham and lamb dinner, or any of that. What I do mean is, how do reflect upon the Passion of Jesus Christ? Do you attend the services and check them off as they come or do you actually focus on the story of meaning behind the week? Growing up, our church never held a Good Friday service, but when I became an adult and started attending a church that did, I realized what I was missing. Now, I can't imagine not attending a Good Friday service.

Well, last summer, I stumbled upon something that I realized would become part of a new Easter remembrance for me, the book The Cross He Bore by Frederick S Leahy. This little book is the best book I have ever read on the Cross of Christ. It opened my eyes to so many things I had never seen involving the death of the Savior. It is a short book. Thirteen chapters total with each chapter about six to seven pages long. Each chapter is a different meditation on the suffering of the Redeemer. What I plan to do is to read a chapter a day leading up to Good Friday and I would encourage you to do the same. You can purchase the book from Westminster Bookstore for $4.03 with a $5 flat shipping rate. My suggestion, is to go to Westminster and browse through some of their other products and put a package together. You won't regret it. By the way, for $4.03, get a copy for your pastor. He will appreciate it.

Here is an excerpt from the introduction of the book.
"As the cross is central in God's eternal decrees, and in the actual redemption of his people, so it should be central in the thinking and experience of the individual Christian. It is my conviction, and at times my sad experience, that as the cross goes out of focus in the Christian's life, coldness and backsliding set in.
It is not my intention in these brief chapters to give a detailed account of the trial and crucifixion of our Lord. That is done in the Gospels infinitely better than by any mere man or woman. Rather, I have selected certain passages which help us to meditate on the what the Saviour endured for our salvation. If our meditation on the cross be meagre, can our love for the Saviour by great?"