The women who watched the crucifixion from afar had “followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him” (Mt. 27:55). I’d like to consider what it would mean to minister to Jesus, and how we can continue in these women’s footsteps today, ministering unto the Lord.

Jesus had a following of faithful women, as I mentioned in the previous post, and they must have been preparing food for Him, getting water for Him, perhaps washing His feet, and any number of other things. This was their ministry to the Lord, the One who made Heaven and Earth: to give Him a drink of the water that He spoke into existence.

To minister is to act as a servant, to provide and care for. The women who served Jesus used their hands and feet. Mary even used her hair and her tears to wash His feet (Luke 7:36-50). Their ministry to Him was tangible. Jesus could taste it, drink it, and smell it. Read More

Many women were eyewitnesses of the crucifixion, “looking on from afar” as it says in Matthew 27:55. This text tells us they had “followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him.” Those named in the different Gospels include Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Both Marys saw the body of Jesus removed from the cross, they saw where Jesus was laid in the tomb, and they witnessed the large stone  rolled against the door of the tomb. Both arrived at dawn Sunday morning and saw the angel of the Lord descend and roll back the stone; and both met the risen Lord  as they ran to tell the disciples the joyful news. These women, when confronted with the risen Christ, “held Him by the feet and worshiped Him” (vs. 9).

The Gospel of Mark also mentions Salome (15:40-41) at the cross and with the two Marys as they brought spices to anoint His body. Luke includes more women at the tomb in the morning: “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women Read More

I thought I should give everyone a quick late-night glimpse into Mom’s living room . . . temporarily transformed into a second dining room. This is the adult table.

Here is the bevy of name tags designated for the two kid tables:

And finally, here is my hysterically ugly “gurgle jug” which for some reason I am insanely fond of. I am the proud possessor of not one, but two of them. (Possibly three, I can’t remember.) Anyway, the two that I can find are holding tulips on the kids’ tables. I do feel that I should explain, in my defense, that I only bought them because I was collecting green Dartmouth pottery while I was in England, and I gathered up loads of other fun green thingies at antique stores and charity sales etc. But it turns out that  the most radically popular of all the Dartmouth pottery (judging from the wide assortment on ebay) seemed to be these gurgle jugs. I held off for a while – but finally I caved and decided that it would be ridiculous to have a collection of Dartmouth pottery that didn’t contain a few ugly fish. So I bought them. Now you know. I also have a snail. But aside from those weird items, the rest of the collection is actually quite beautiful!

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Valerie asked what I was going to do with all the nekkid lemons . . . and here’s the answer. Little lemon meringue tarts.

Here are all the little meringues, baking in the oven . . .

. . . here are the little shells, cooling in tiny champagne flutes to give them their shape.

And I completely neglected to take a picture of the lemon curd, but you get the idea anyway.

These are great, because you can store all the components separately for up to three days, and then assemble before serving.

Here’s the recipe (from Martha Stewart): Read More