Easter: The Season of the Resurrection of Jesus

April 12, 2025 2:58 PM / 4 Comments on Easter: The Season of the Resurrection of Jesus

Easter: The Season of the Resurrection of Jesus

By Wesley Hill

Continuing the Fullness of Time series, my book club very appropriately read Easter this month. It is a short book. Not a devotional, not an academic tome, Easter begins with a very engaging introduction describing a Great Vigil of Easter service Wesley Hill attended at a beautiful cathedral in England twenty years ago. He then moves into the story of the first Easter when Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He documents what he describes with Scripture references from all four Gospels weaving in important information about the context of the accounts.

Next, Hill discusses the liturgy used in Anglican and other churches relating baptism symbolically to the resurrection and the new life believers receive when they decide to follow Jesus. Easter is a movable feast, not occurring on the same calendar day each year. It is a complicated calculation, but Hill does share how to figure it out and the factors on which it is dependent. (Or, like me, you can just look the date up on the Internet or a calendar.)

Hill does not just leave us with a risen Lord. He moves on to how the church liturgy highlights the book of Acts which focuses on Jesus’ disciples. Their world has been turned upside down, but Jesus does not abandon them. When He ascends to be with God the Father in heaven, He leaves instructions for His followers to share the Good News and promises to send a helper, the Holy Spirit, to empower them.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Christian, Religion, Spirituality, Theology

Notes: The Fullness of Time series is edited by Esau McCaulley. It is composed of six stand alone books that can be read in any order: “Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring the traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals of the seasons of the church calendar.” A seventh book is currently in process to complete the series.

Publication: 2025—InterVarsity Press

Memorable Lines:

Mercy for the undeserving is the overriding, hope-awakening theme of Easter.

Prayer, then, is our asking for what we need from the one who has triumphed over the world’s processes of decay and disorientation. We aren’t trapped by the limited options of life as we’ve always known it. Jesus is alive, and he exhales healing vitality, and wholeness into our world. His Spirit is with us.

The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

A Slay Ride Together with You–who’s causing trouble?

December 9, 2024 12:40 PM / 6 Comments on A Slay Ride Together with You–who’s causing trouble?

A Slay Ride Together with You

by Vicki Delany

If you enjoy cozy mysteries in small towns, but want a Christmas flair, then A Slay Ride Together with You is the perfect combination.

The protagonist, Merry Wilkinson, owns a gift shop, Mrs. Claus’s treasures while her best friend from childhood, Vicky, owns Victoria’s Bake Shoppe. The story is told from Merry’s point of view, but Vicky plays a huge role as she is a wonderful pastry chef, is planning her wedding to Mark, the chef at The Yuletide Inn, and is writing a cookbook. Mark and Vicky are also restoring an old home that has garnered a reputation for being haunted.

Characters you will enjoy include three dogs with prominent roles. Vicky’s dog Sandbanks is an “ancient golden Labrador” who frequently sleeps through excitement. Merry’s dog is Matterhorn (Mattie), a faithful Saint Bernard. Alan, Merry’s boyfriend, adds to the canine mix with Ranger, his “overly active Jack Russell.”

Vicky is not sleeping well in her new home because of weird sounds all through the night. These noises come to a climax when Merry is visiting and someone knocks on the front door and then the back, disappearing before the doors can be opened. This is a cozy mystery, so expect a murder and lots of suspects including Vicky’s fiancé Mark. I have always found references to extended family members of an ever widening circle to be confusing. That turmoil happens to Merry also as she investigates the various people that might want the victim dead. There are inheritance and relationship issues that emerge too.

I enjoyed A Slay Ride Together with You and will jump at the chance to read more in this series. Delany has written several more cozy mystery series. One I particularly enjoy is the Tea by the Sea Mystery Series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Mystery

Notes: 1. I started Delany’s Year-Round Christmas Mystery Series with #6. A Slay Ride Together with You is #7 in the series and I had no problem jumping into either book. I believe the setting of Rudolph, New York, with the nickname of “America’s Christmas Town,” is standard from one novel to the next and the characters recur, but Delany does a great job of giving background on the characters so the reader’s introduction to the series is almost seamless.

2. Includes recipes for several cookies and a fall soup that Vicky makes at her cafe.

Publication: September 24, 2024—Crooked Lane Books

Memorable Lines:

Mattie sat next to me, hoping for some lunchtime tidbit to drop. It never does, but he never gives up hope. A lesson for us all, perhaps.

Jim was a reverse Santa Claus. He made enemies and spread ill will everywhere he went.

Vicky and I had changed out of our wet clothes and were wrapped in sweaters and thick blankets against the cold that seemed to have penetrated into our very bones.

Toxic Toffee–Jethro and Puff add humor

October 9, 2019 3:34 PM / 3 Comments on Toxic Toffee–Jethro and Puff add humor

Toxic Toffee

by Amanda Flower

As I read Amanda Flower’s latest cozy mystery, Toxic Toffee, I was delighted to see familiar characters, like Jethro the polka dotted pig. I was amused by the introduction of a huge fluffy pet bunny named Puff and intrigued by the mysterious death of a rabbit farmer whom everyone loves. Reading about the construction of a ten foot toffee rabbit and other Easter treats was appealing to this chocoholic as well.

All of this sweetness is wrapped up in an intriguing mystery that starts in New York City where Bailey, chocolatier extraordinaire, and her naive Amish relative Charlotte have been filming candy making for a TV show. They soon leave the fascinating Big Apple where Charlotte’s Amish is frequently “showing” as she encounters a very unfamiliar world. They return to Holmes County, Ohio, where they help Bailey’s grandmother in their Amish candy shop. Bailey is approached by the son of a murdered man with a request that she help solve the mystery of his death. She agrees because of her community ties. Although “Englisch,” her ancestry is Amish and her grandmother is very respected in the community.

Threatening notes and a late night attack ramp up the danger level for Bailey and the concern level for her boyfriend, Deputy Aiden Brody. There are plot twists, turns, and surprises all the way to the end. Suspense, humor, and interesting characters make Toxic Toffee a must read for cozy mystery lovers.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Mystery

Notes: 1. #4 in the Amish Candy Shop Mystery series.

2. I believe this could be read without reading the previous books in the series, but I think this is one of the best so far in the series.

Publication: June 25, 2019—Kensington Books

Memorable Lines:

“Not lucky. Blessed. Luck is an Englisch idea, not an Amish one.”

…I couldn’t live in fear. I would be afraid enough to be careful, but I would not allow myself to be stifled by fear.

“In my opinion, it’s better for a young person to leave the faith and be Englisch than force themselves to be Amish and make everyone around then miserable.”

Happy Easter–from the mountains of Michoacan, Mexico

April 1, 2018 9:45 AM / 1 Comment on Happy Easter–from the mountains of Michoacan, Mexico

Today we celebrate new life in a resurrected Jesus Christ!

Photos taken towards the end of February:

Easter Pictures (Fotos de semana Santa)

April 18, 2017 3:16 PM / 5 Comments on Easter Pictures (Fotos de semana Santa)

It only took TWO WEEKS (24/7) to synchronize all of my pictures with iCloud, but it did work as far as I can tell. While that was happening, I was afraid to touch my pictures. Now I am ready to share some more of Mexico, starting with this past weekend. A few of these pictures were taken previously, but I did take all of them in Mexico.