Easter Sunday in Greece

 Day 5 of our Greece Bound experience.

Last evening, at midnight, after Dad and Mom were sleeping and Carolyn was in bed, the fireworks started. I stepped out onto the balcony with the fireworks loud all around us celebrating the arrival of the holy fire from Jerusalem to Athens! After the fireworks were finished, people started walking down the street passing the flame, which first came by chartered flight and then passed from one candle to another across the city and the rest of Greece. I had the urge to find a candle and light one too! I didn't. I went to bed.

In the morning, we headed out to go to an evangelical Greek church where Daniel and Amber attend. (Driving in the car the other day, Dad said, “I like your mother.” This morning, driving to church, Dad said, “I like my Durksen girl.”) They welcomed us and gave each of us ear phones so we could hear the translator. The quiet voice in one ear translating in real time what was being said from the podium was amazing and meaningful.

“Christo Anesti!”  Christ is Risen!

A lady shared a testimony about how her life was guided by God. She highlighted God’s grace, gentleness and kindness. She read Ephesians 3:20 how Christ does abundantly more than we could ask or think.

I cried when the pastor’s wife and her daughter sang a song with the lyrics “I press on toward the goal. I press on to fulfill His upward call.”

They prayed for various people who were going on outreach trips.

At the end of the service before singing the last three songs, they passed out candles to everyone, lighting them to represent the light of Christ in the world. Little Lucas was entranced by the light of all the candles.

Carolyn said it was so special to go to a Greek church where the pastor’s wife said with feeling, “Thank you for lending your son to Greece. We just love having them here.” Mom said, “They can tell Daniel and Amber enjoy their country. When there’s a calling, the Lord gives a love.”

We drove forty-five minutes to Daniel and Amber’s friends house in Artemis for an Easter Lamb roast. Driving along, Carolyn said, “I love the backcountry of Greece.” Olive groves. Beautiful wild flowers! Mom started singing, “All the way, my Saviour leads me…” Carolyn and I joined in. 

As Carolyn was maneuvering her way through Athens and other Greek villages with her GPS telling her where to turn and when, Mom marveled that Dad drove them around Austria in 1978 finding all the Operation Mobilization teams they were mentoring for a month. We talked about how back then they had No Cell Phones. No GPS. No Email. No Google. How did they communicate?!!!! How did they find their way?

Dad said OM required him to pass a driving test with one of the OM staff. He said he failed the first time because he was too confident! Carolyn said she remembers Dad telling us the story that a young girl who didn’t even know how to shift the manual vehicle very well passed her first try and Dad failed! Dad passed the second time around. 

We got to our host’s house. There was the lamb on the spit! Her sister’s family and their mother were there, too.

For our Easter lamb roast we had an unbelievable amount of such wonderful food!

1. The Lamb (juicy, tender and lots of it)

2. Chicken Kabobs.

3. Pork and vegetable kabobs

4. Sausage

5. Polititiki, Greek Coleslaw means “Gardner’s Salad”

6. Tzatziki, Cucumber salad

7. Boiled potatoes with butter and parsley

8. Red Beet salad

9. Lettuce salad

10. Rice with vegetables

11. Peppers and Zucchini stuffed with Feta Cheese

12. Fresh Sourdough bread

For dessert they brought out

1. Tsureki, sweet bread like Paska made of sourdough. (Pascha is “Easter” in Greek.)

2. Halva, a confectionary made of sesame seeds like Tahini. 

3. Pavlova, an Australian dessert made with coconut cream because one of their daughters is dairy free and raspberries and strawberries on top! Named Pavlova after a Russian Dancer who went to Australia to dance so they named this cake after her!

4. A decadent chocolate cake with little chicks peeking out of eggs.

We played a traditional Greek Easter game with red eggs, called Tsougrisma. Red because it symbolizes Jesus Christ's blood, while eggs themselves represent the sealed Tomb from which he arose after his crucifixion. Cracking these eggs symbolizes Christ's resurrection from the dead. (They said coloring Easter eggs of various colors started in the west.) The game is a bit like conkers, but with eggs, with the object of the game to be the last one with an uncracked shell. We each picked a hard boiled egg out of the basket. Holding your egg in your hand, you hit another person’s egg. If your egg cracks, you’re out. If your egg is uncracked, you find another person with an uncracked egg. Amber’s egg was the last one standing.

(An interesting sidenote, our host bought some of the red colored eggs at the store and some she dyed herself with boiled onion skins!)

During Easter in Greece, school children get two weeks off of school. Easter is the biggest holiday in Greece.

When we were talking about going to the Acropolis on Friday, our host said he hasn’t been there yet. Someone said most Athenians don’t go to the Acropolis because they see it everyday!

They were talking about how the islands around Greece are part of Greece even though Turkey doesn’t think Greece should have the islands. Someone said that the Turkey ships and aircraft buzz an island and the Greek military will buzz them away. “It’s all a political game.” Also, Greece waters are only two kilometers from shore. After that, it’s international waters so Turkish ships can come that close. In contrast, the USA waters are 200 kilometers from shore. There were so many interesting topics from education to military service to babies as we spent hours around the heavily laden table and still later over desserts and coffee and tea. It was a very special afternoon. 

After we came back to the apartment for our last evening in Athens, I asked Carolyn what she yelled after the man who stole her phone. She said she called, “Please don’t, Sir! I need that!” Even though he kept going, she said she’s glad she said something! I was impressed that she respectfully called him “Sir”!! 

It was nice having an evening of quietly resting at the Airbnb, processing the day and eating a few leftovers for a simple supper.