From where I sit, Easter looks more than a little different for me this year. With our son getting intensive Long-COVID therapy in Arkansas right now, I just got done recording my Palm Sunday sermon via video in a dress shirt, blazer, and shorts (Along with all the microphone, camera, lighting cords, all who will be attending at/tuning into North Life this Sunday will be comforted to know that the pale, still-thawing-out-from-winter legs of yours truly were left out of the camera angle.)

I am grateful that I will be able to be back home in person for our Good Friday and Easter services, but this year’s festivities and worship at our home church have likely had less of my direct attention/contributions than any other of my almost 25 years of pastoral ministry. Therefore, I am working to intentionally be connected to and revived by my favorite week of the year in new and meaningful ways wherever the living God has sovereignly directed not only my legs but all of me to be. (Writing this blog post is one of them.)

The following statement reached out and grabbed me as I prepare to celebrate and serve through yet another Easter season with all of its unique blessings and challenges:

“In our time the Christian faith is seen as something traditional rather than radical and disruptive. Nothing could be further from the truth…The resurrection is not a stupendous magic trick but an invasion…The resurrection means not merely that Christians have a hope for the future but that they have a hope that comes from the future. The Bible’s startling message is that when Jesus rose, he brought the future kingdom of God into the present.” (Hope in Times of Fear, Keller)

As Paul reminds us, everything in our past, present, AND FUTURE hinges upon the resurrection, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Co. 15:19). To retrieve the God-intended shock value of history’s greatest event ever, let’s break down the above statement slowly and succinctly:

“Easter…”

Where did the word “Easter” originate? Well…the Christian scholar Bede (673-735 AD, the Venerable Bede) claimed in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre, a pagan goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Later scholars claim that the term derives from the Anglo-Saxon word “oster”, meaning “to rise” or for their term for the Spring equinox, “Eostre.” To be clear, there is more than a little controversy around the word “Easter” only occurring once (most other translations render it differently than KJV) in Acts 12:4 and its translation from a word that is translated “Passover” in its other 28 occurrences.

Without getting into the specifics of that debate for sake of brevity, the word “Easter” does reference an event that the early church gathered weekly to celebrate…and obviously therefore so should we with special emphasis upon the annual observance. Andrea Thom captures God’s intentions with this precious but oft-overlooked word, “Easter. Its true meaning moves us beyond the pastel shades of spring to the exaltation of Jesus in royal triumph. It’s an identity, a way of life, and a future home where we’ll always belong.” (More on that future component in a few paragraphs.)

“is”

Why does Easter often feel so passé, overdone, or outdated? Brett McCracken proposes, “What’s familiar tends to bore us. This is our nature going back to Eden. Rather than being content with the given, we’re curious and hungry for the exotic, the unknown, the novel.” In reality, the abundant, resurrecting life that Jesus embodies/offers is progressively available and vibrantly relevant again this year. It should be and it can be fresh…if we view it God’s way. This emancipates every church leader from having to rebrand or put a fresh spin on this holy day that IS engaging and transformative all on its own if prayerfully permitted to do so. For all of us, the empty tomb is more than enough, on its own, to capture our imagination and engage our passion anew and afresh if we will allow it…right now.

“an”

We will get to the word invasion, in the right sense, in just a moment. Note the word in our carefully crafted sentence is not “the” but “an.” Please know that there is more than one driving passion/event/cause that can invade our heart and promise “life” even during sacred moments like this one. If we don’t choose the one initiated by God, we WILL choose another. There is no void in the cosmos as C.S. Lewis wisely submits, ““There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan.” The only way to empty yourself of lessor invasions that are constantly at the door is to choose to let the God who fills heaven and earth fill your very soul again this year.

“invasion”

We are far too often numb to the resurrected Savior’s intended and jarring shock. This is undeniably revealed in how we plan to navigate this season again this year. As one author put it,

“The orientation of our Easter practices must go beyond brunch plans and pastel matching outfits for the church’s photo booth. The Easter church worship gathering ought to be a high point of our year, along with (ideally) church gatherings at other points in the week leading up to Easter. Beyond just another thing…in between Little League games and tax preparation, Easter ought to occupy a place of unrivaled importance.”

At some point, we have to choose whether we are going to be a “let’s just do Easter brunch crowd” type of person or the amongst the select few who go all-in on the mission and mandate of the local church connected to Jesus with all of its inconvenient responsibilities. The empty tomb and everything that precedes it were intended by God to put not just death, hell, and Satan on their heels but everything in us that resists His holy war for our benefit and His glory. Remember there is no middle ground. You either are for Jesus or against Jesus. What could God do in and through you if you would fully surrender to not just a living Savior but a living Lord? Choose to allow the One who invaded our broken, defiled world with His rescuing grace to invade the corners and crevices of your unyielded mind, heart, home, church, etc. In light of a sure future with THE Sovereign with no remaining rivals, you will not regret it!

“by”

How would you define the simple, well-worn word “by”? Well since you probably struggled to do so if you are like me, here it is: “1) Identifying the agent performing an action. 2) Indicating the means of achieving something” (Oxford). If we are not careful we look to pastel-colored “props” to make and/or keep the Easter season interesting and engaging. This well-intended approach will, without the bigger picture in view, get us stuck in the vicious cycle of trying to create “new” independently of the new life already available through Jesus and pulsating in our ranks by His Spirit. The “by” for a vibrant, dynamic Easter has already been provided; we must simply yield to its absolute sway. It is not about generating new energy on our own but tapping into and merging with same the power that raised Jesus from the dead! Churches of any size, families of any season, individuals with any limitations/burdens can still enter into a sweet, meaningful experience with the risen Savior this Easter. It is your choice. And mine.

“God’s”

If the one, true God is involved in a thing, like He so unmistakably is with the Resurrection, then it is a big deal to say the least. The problem is that we humanism-leaning humans have made ourselves gods in ways more subtle and pervasive than we care to admit. Easter is intended to annually expose that tendency and remind us of the One alone who deserves and is the center of it all including life and death and eternity. All who make themselves or lessor things/people their “god” will have a story that ends with death. Only those who follow the only One to come back from the dead will enter into life that never, ever, ever ends. May this Easter for the first time or the umpteenth time cause you to go with the second option, God’s path towards life.

“…future.”

The audacious claims and acts of the empty tomb only make sense in light of eternity. Have you noticed how exclusively obsessed we all tend to be with the present, temporal world? Why is that? McCracken proposes the following reason:

“The digital age has eroded cultural memory and our capacity to think beyond the ‘now.’ According to the algorithm and push notifications of our devices, what matters is what’s happening, not what happened or what will happen. Digital capitalism is built around ephemeral consumerism, and technologies are formed to funnel our attention into present-tense tasks, distractions, and attention-occupying experiences. The ‘old news’ of Christ’s resurrection doesn’t serve the algorithm’s interests.”

Someday-sooner than we think or feel-we will be living in that fully-orbed future that this current string of annual passion weeks is leading towards and preparing us for. The question is, When we get there, will we be as ready and receptive to it as we should be-in part because of how we entered into it/allowed it to enter into us THIS Easter? Thom concludes, “Living risen is heavenly certainty impacting earthly living now, because it casts our gaze beyond current sorrow and onto Who is glorious. Future resurrection hope brings us comfort, builds endurance, and ushers joy into pain where it doesn’t make earthly sense.” I choose, this Easter with all of its distinct texture, to be known by God and man as one “living risen.” How about you?