by Elaine Olsen | Mar 20, 2016 | Easter
Palm Sunday. I’ve been picking up palm fronds at the backs of many sanctuaries I’ve called home for nearly fifty years. The processions and procedures vary. No church does it the same; not all pageantry is created equal. Sometimes the children process with the palms....
by Elaine Olsen | Apr 4, 2015 | communion, Easter, marriage
“The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is...
by Elaine Olsen | Mar 31, 2014 | desert dwelling, Easter, family fun, pilgrimage
The Gospels make it clear—you can’t make the ‘Lenten Journey’ without the desert and wilderness. That forty-day trek is rough terrain. All that stuff about wild beasts, temptations, and hunger, we’d rather not talk about it. And the cruelty of it; “Lord, can we...
by Elaine Olsen | Mar 23, 2014 | contests, Easter, give aways, guest post
Having come from a Baptist background the only thing I knew about Lent was that it was probably a misspelling of the stuff that you clean out of the dryer. It was not until I went to Young Harris College that I even heard the word, much less had it explained to...
by Elaine Olsen | Mar 8, 2014 | a quick word, Easter, faith, hope, living God's truth, Olive Press, trust, truth
“Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had...
by Elaine Olsen | Apr 1, 2013 | Easter, eternity, grace, knowing God, obedience, peace
“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against...