Well, it's over -- Easter, that is. I've always been much more of an "Easter guy" than a "Christmas guy". Maybe I just like candy more than toys, I don't know. But it seems to me that there is so much more to the Lenten season, so many layers, so much emotion.
I've always looked forward to Easter, and Holy Week in particular. This year I knew I'd end up having a tough time. My secular jobs were running hot and heavy, and of course there are all kinds of demands put upon pastors at this time of year. On top of that, baseball season has begun in the house, and none of the kids can drive himself to practice just yet. (One more year!) Somehow I knew this Holy Week wouldn't be the same.
It wasn't. I didn't have the devotional time I wanted. It was hard enough to find time when my mind was unfogged so I could do my sermon study. While the significant events of the week passed, I struggled to catch up.
Perhaps knowing my week would turn out this way, I implored my congregation on Palm Sunday not to let the week slip by without realizing the significance. Now, it's gone.
There are times when being a bi-vocational (or in my case, tri-vocational) pastor really stinks.
Still, I am blessed in knowing that it's not over. Sure the Easter candy is all on sale at the Big Box Store, but the message of Easter is eternal.
In December, I always seem to hear Elvis Presley sing, "If Everyday was Like Christmas." In the song, the king laments the lack of Christmas spirit during the rest of the year as if in December everyone is actually acting out of love instead of greed or obligation. It's really beyond idealistic drivel.
Yet the "Easter spirit" is actually alive and well 365 1/4 days a year. The Gospel message is timeless.
On the radio this morning, I heard a man arguing increduously that Christians must be idiots to believe that a man could rise from the dead because there was no natural way it could happen. He was missing the point. Christ's resurrection wasn't natural. It was miraculous. If it weren't, why would we celebrate? Why would we care?
The miracle of the Resurrection isn't seasonal. Thank God.
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Trying to focus on what is important and occasionally succeeding.
About Me
- rev-ed
- I'm married with three kids, not to mention three jobs. My calling is serving as pastor at a small country church. I also work at a small-town newspaper and do some government work on the side. Needless to say, I'm a busy guy, but you can contact me at rev-ed at verizon.net
1 comment:
"On the radio this morning, I heard a man arguing increduously that Christians must be idiots to believe that a man could rise from the dead because there was no natural way it could happen."
This is the basic, IMO most flawed, assumption underlying naturalistic humanism today. The assumptions that "God can't exist because you can't prove Him using science" or "God can't exist because the God I'd believe in wouldn't act that way" are mind boggling to me.
We've become so beholden to science that we fail to realize its shortcomings. One, for instance, is that it presumes naturalistic causes because it has to be limited to function; it doesn't presume naturalistic causes because it's proven supernatural ones don't exist.
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