Resurrection Sunday was a great day at the church. The decorating crew did a wonderful job placing the fresh lilies throughout the entryway and sanctuary and setting up the photo station. Sunday School teachers had prepared special lessons for their classes. Extra cleaning was done throughout the building. The attendance was good, and there seemed to be a little more volume as the congregation lifted their voices together in song about Christ’s victory over death. The easter egg hunt was an exciting time, and the children were scrambling to get as many eggs as possible. Everyone was smiling, dressed sharply, and enjoying the relationships that are found only within a church family.
But today is Thursday, and Sunday is four days behind us, and the joys of Resurrection Sunday seem like a distant memory. You see, on Monday, the same decorating committee was back in the church early, removing the banners, the photo station, and the easter décor. They had to because Tuesday was just hours away, and with it came an election day. The church is a polling station for our community. Tables had to be set up, and the decorations needed to be removed to allow easier access. Wednesday brought all its activities: youth and children, worship team rehearsal, and Bible study. This morning brought additional work with local businesses on classroom locks and entryway remodeling ideas. The final lilies that were on the platform were taken down and boxed for transplanting, and with that, Resurrection Sunday, the Easter Season, and all that went into it were over. Finished until next year, when we unpack the boxes of decorations, order more flowers and palm branches, fill more eggs for the children, and sing “He Lives” once again. A quick, easy, convenient once-a-year thing that’s mandatory in the life of a church, before we are off to the next thing.
I am afraid that there are far too many who live their lives in the same manner, much like what I described, the things that have transpired in the church over these last few days. Christ touched our lives at some point in a way that we had never been touched before. It was wonderful and grand. We were happy, and the smiles were abundant. But life happened. There were the kids, the job, the appointments, the house, the everyday happenings, and Christ has been figuratively put back in the box and will remain there until the next time of convenience for us. Or so we think. A mere glance at church attendance the very week after Easter Sunday will quickly validate that many see it this way.
But that’s not realistic; it’s not how relationships work, and it definitely shouldn’t be how those who profess to be Christ-followers live. Don’t take my word for it; look at what the Bible says in Luke 9:23.
I’ve always enjoyed The Message’s perspective. It reads like this, “Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am… Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way I’m leading you, know that the Son of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This isn’t, you realize, pie in the sky by and by…”
Let’s end with that: a relationship with Christ isn’t seasonal or situational.
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