Easter-So What?

On Easter Sunday I will stand before you and loudly say, “Christ is Risen! Alleluia!” Hopefully, you will remember to respond with “He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!”

I have celebrated twenty-six Easters as a pastor in the church. Every time that I’ve greeted people at the beginning of worship with those glorious words I’ve had to playfully say, after the peoples’ rather tepid response, “Oh, come on we can do much better than that! Let’s try that again! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!” The second response of the people is usually much loader and more joyful.
It may be the case, and I really do hope that this is the case, that I’ve merely caught people off guard. I hope it is the case that folk have forgotten this earliest of Christian greetings since the last Easter season. I hope that’s why when I first offer the greeting people are thinking, “Let’s see. What is it I’m supposed to say?”
The terrible alternative would be that the rather lukewarm response that I first receive is because some people really don’t think that the resurrection of Jesus is a big deal at all or they don’t quite believe that the resurrection of Jesus really matters much at all in their lives. I shudder, quite literally, to think of people, supposed Christian people holding such a view.
I recently finished reading a remarkable book, “A Renegade’s Guide to God”, by Pastor David Foster.
As a small aside I must tell you how this book came into my hands. I truly believe that God guided me to this book. Some of you reading what I’m about to relate will think me to be a nutcase, saying, “Yeah, right. You really think that God ‘guided’ you to read a particular book?” To which I will say “yes”, with no apologies.
My son and I were returning from a day of snow tubing with his Cub Scout Pack. We were on the interstate at Coldwater, Michigan. There is a Big Lots in Cold Water. I admitted in a previous article how I haunt Big Lots and Dollar Trees for closeout books and DVDs.
We walked into the store and I spied books on sale. I saw Pastor Foster’s book. I picked it up, looked it over and put it down. I thought, “I’ve got more books than I know what to do with.” I wandered over to the DVDs and didn’t find anything that really sparked my interest.
“Come on, David”, I said to my son. “We need to get back home.” I was moving towards the store’s exit when I just felt that I needed to buy that book. I returned to the book bin, picked up the book and bought it.
I began to read the book that next Sunday morning, very early, in my study before our first worship service. As I read I had this sense that God had wanted me to read this book. (Okay, some of you might think all of this is over the top and I am quite comfortable with whatever assessment you bring to my story.)
Pastor Foster makes a number of rather startling observations about modern day Christianity. You will have to read the book yourself to see what I mean. Yet, one observation that he makes that really hit me over the head like a two by four is that many, many Christians live out their lives as if Jesus had not been raised from the dead and even if those same Christians do believe Christ was raised from the dead their lives do not seem to reflect any real joy at so great a thing. Further, Pastor Foster observes that too many Christian people lead lives that don’t seem to have been transformed at all by the earth shaking event of the resurrection. I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau who said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation...."
There are too many Christian people whose lives prove what Thoreau said. Many Christian people live as if Christ had not been raised from the dead. This is what Pastor Foster contends in his book. We say that Christ has been raised from the dead and yet to outsiders and insiders it appears that we really don’t believe the news that the angels told the women at the tomb that first Easter morning.
People who have no joy in their lives, and here I mean Christian people without joy in their lives are behaving as if the resurrection is a sham or did not happen. Knowing that Jesus has raised from the dead and that we too will be raised from the dead should set our hearts soaring. We should not be glum people. We should not be dour people. We should be people who smile and laugh and sing and joke and giggle and dance!
If Christ has been raised the whole world has been changed. Nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because he was raised death has been utterly defeated and the world is now a glorious place. New possibilities for us abound. Our food should even taste better. Our sleep should be sounder. Our waking moments should be energized with joy.
I can’t make anyone into a joyful Christian. I can’t force great happiness on anyone. If I could I would. But, I can suggest to you that you pray to God with great fervor if your life is not marked with joy. Pray to Christ Jesus to fill you with joy at the good thing that he has done for you. Ask Jesus to come into your heart today and help you to live as a wonderfully goofy kind of person who has been seized with joy and wonder at all Christ has done for you.
Don’t spend another day in despair or sorrow or pain or anger or desperation. Christ rose from the dead! The resurrection of Jesus changes everything! Let it change you. Let it fill your heart up. Hold on to the resurrection in all things and you will find an unbelievable life.