He is Risen!!

I know - I know what you are thinking: "You haven't posted the promised pictures from spring break (part 1) yet! What are you doing starting another rambling post about a weekend that happened about three weeks ago?" I'm sorry but it's just that there is so much to tell and show (show and tell?)! I realized just today that I had forgotten to share about my wonderful Easter weekend. Thus, before I can go on to post recent pictures, I need to say a few words (okay, let's be honest: more than a few) about Good Friday, Easter Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday...

First, Good Friday to Easter Saturday was taken up not by a Good Friday service but a 21st birthday party (shocking?). One of my new friends, Sarah, celebrated her 21st birthday a few days early on Friday night. English-born, Sarah now lives in Edinburgh, which is quite easily accessible by train. So she invited our group of friends over for a black-tie dinner and sleepover at her family's home right outside of downtown Edinburgh.

We had such a lovely time! Sarah, her parents, and her sisters were wonderful hosts. We had an absolutely delicious meal complete with appetizer, salad, main course, and 3 choices of dessert. What a joy to eat outside the dorms for a night! We toasted Sarah and gave speeches to celebrate her 22nd year of life. After dinner, we chatted, played parlor games, danced to swing music, ate some of Sarah's homemade porridge, and then crashed on their living room floor. We left the next morning to catch the train and hurry back to St. Andrews for serious homework time!

I spent the rest of Easter Saturday writing papers and studying philosophy. I have two papers, one for each class, each counting for 50% of my grade, and both due shortly after spring break. Not wanting to be stressing about them over break, my goal was to finish at least one of them (plus turn it in!) and have the other pretty much completed. Fortunately, I finished a draft of each, received comments from both profs, turned in one, and now only have the second one to revise before the Friday after classes resume. Hurray! It was a crazy month of working ahead but I succeeded in meeting my goals.

Anyway, that was Easter Saturday - my nose stuck to the grindstone - but Easter Sunday was a day full of fellowship, celebration, and community. (I actually accomplished absolutely nothing in terms of schoolwork and yet I refused to let myself worry about it.) First, three of my girlfriends - Hannah, Sarah, and Mel - and I went to the 7am Easter morning service called "St. Mary's on the Rock". It took place right on the coastal path, between the cathedral ruins and the North Sea. The sun was so bright as it rose up over the sea that it was blinding us during the service! Absolutely gorgeous. What an amazing way to start the day that celebrates Christ's resurrection!

The service was followed by communion in the cathedral ruins. We crowded around the spot where the altar would have sat and passed the elements until everyone had received them. Afterwards, we all moved on to a car park near the castle ruins where some St. Andrews hotels had set up a complimentary Easter breakfast of sausages, rolls, tea, and coffee.

After breakfast, it was only about 8:30, so the girls and I headed down to the pier to enjoy the beautiful morning and to kill some time before the 10:30 Easter service at the Baptist church. After church, we went over to our friend Becca's flat where she and a few other girls had cooked a delicious Easter dinner. I had to eat sparingly because I was anticipating another later dinner that I'd been invited to by a family I have befriended at my church, Holy Trinity. But even eating modestly, I still managed to try yorkshire pudding for the first time in my life! It was quite good. For a good couple of hours, there were a bunch of us there just eating, hanging out, chatting, etc. Very relaxing after a week of busyness and hard work.

Then, almost immediately afterwards, I was picked up by the Egan family and we headed off to their friends' house for Easter dinner number two! Again, I ate modestly but still enjoyed an amazing array of home-cooked dishes including cheesecake at the end. The guests included three or four families of post-grad couples. The husbands were all doing post-grad work in theology at St. Andrews, working towards doctorates, and everyone was from America. Two of the families had children...3 girls and 3 boys in all. I am so used to celebrating Easter with my family of 7 so it a huge blessing to be with these families and their little kids that afternoon. I enjoyed some rousing theological and political discussions with the adults and also watched a little of 101 Dalmatians (the original Disney version!) with the kids. Fun times for sure.

All in all, it was quite a full day of eating, talking, celebrating, and just spending time with people - students, kids, and adults - in worship and in fellowship. For my first Easter away from home, I really felt blessed, encouraged, included, and loved by the amazing Christian community in St. Andrews. And, if that latter comment has appeared more than once over the course of my last few posts, I can't apologize for my redundancy. In fact, don't be surprised if you read it again and again before this term is over. The truth of the matter is this: the greatest source of my excitement and joy and love for St. Andrews has been and continues to be the extremely genuine members of the Christian community of which I have become a part of here. I may even have to devote an entire post to this topic in the future...once I finish posting those promised pictures, of course. :)