Another Easter, Another Plea

For as long as I can remember, I have wondered why Easter does not change us more than it does. OK, time for a disclaimer: My interpretation about what is significant about Easter may not be thought of as in the mainstream. Well, that wouldn't be the first time that my thinking fell well shy of orthodoxy. Millions will gather this Sunday, many who do not darken the door of a church for the rest of the year. The choirs will be full, the organ will open up all the way, and most of the pastors will appear to be in really good moods. And when everyone leaves the service, I wonder if they will feel changed somehow. Last Easter, my wife and I attended our first Easter service in our then-new church. The Cathedral was packed, the choir and organist were superb, and I heard one women remark as we were leaving the church, "This is THE place to be today."I would agree that any Christian gathering on Easter is THE place to be, but only if the message approaches being transformative. When I hear an Easter sermon, I want to be amazed by the proclamation of what sets Easter apart. However, what I usually hear has something to do with how the day signifies that we need not fear death, for Christ has conquered death. I do not disagree, though I would like to hear a fuller explanation of what that actually means. But my focus on Easter is not about death, and beyond. I wonder why I don't hear pastors talk about the effect of resurrection on us here and now. I write this on Good Friday, which, in my opinion, is the most sacred day of the Christian year. Too many Christians want to hurry past this day and get on with the fun part of the weekend. Of course, without Friday, Sunday has no real significance. Good Friday shouts to us that Christ was a man of his word, and he did not take the easy way out, though he may have wished that he could have. All of his talk about sacrificial love took on meaning only because he did not turn away from following his talk to its logical and necessary conclusion. Good Friday reminds me that God did more than God had to in order to get my attention. And, for me, that message is not about blood atonement, because, as Marcus Borg has opined, God is God, did God really need to kill his son to redeem the world? No, and Jesus chose to offer up his life because, in light of his teachings, he could do nothing else if his teachings were to be authentic. Thus, Sunday is the day to get everyone's attention and ask why we have not changed our behavior. If God was not above choosing the difficult path, why are we so lazy as people of faith? The majority of professed Christians in the United States do not attend weekly worship. According to Diana Butler Bass, about twenty-four percent of us do. Christian politicians seem to be obsessed about the sexual habits of Americans, and are bold to proclaim their unending concern for the unborn child. Yet, the way they blithely slash social programs seems to indicate that they are not nearly as concerned with a child once he or she is born. We have become a selfish, self-satisfied people who call ourselves Christians. Again, according to Butler-Bass, even the so-called "mega-churches" are in decline, so American Christianity is in trouble. I am not sure that even a radical Easter Sunday wake-up call about THIS world and its problems will serve as a wake up. Walter Brueggemann attributed the inability of the biblical prophets to arouse concern on the part of those who heard their preaching to a numbness that grew from satiation. They were full of the good stuff, they had no need, or ability, apparently, to heed warnings.
My Easter message, if I was to preach one? It's one I have actually preached before: How many more Easter Sundays will it take for Christians to understand that nothing is the same, and the world can be changed for the better? We have to stop looking at the sky and instead turn our gaze to our neighbors. There is a world in need of love and a reason to be hopeful. Why does that task not excite us more? Why are we not more determined to show the life changing message of the gospel in our own lives? This Easter, let's make a determination to begin by welcoming the Stranger, whomever that person may be for each one of us. Radical hospitality makes room for those with whom we differ, and once we get together, we can enrich the lives of one another with our stories. Easter: life does not have to be the same. The work has been done, God has saved the whole world. We just need to show what that change looks like.