Well, it’s a cool and rainy Easter Sunday morning here in Northwest Arkansas. I went out early and got my head wet watching Molly chase a couple of squirrels. It was a quiet moment for me to come alive to God’s creation that surrounds me, and to express again my wonder and appreciation for Jesus’ life, death, and glorious resurrection. Every Easter Sunday since the Lord visited me on Easter 1982 and resurrected me from the ‘deadness’ I was experiencing at that time, I have reminded myself, and others, that He is against deadness of every kind in us; dead relationships, dead hopes and dreams, spiritual deadness, dead-end thinking . . . “the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead” will attack all of that stuff if we cry out for His mercy today! Don’t let any kind of deadness have a permanent place in your life. Not today; not on Easter Sunday!
Easter was a big deal when I was growing up in church. Mom usually got a new hat, I shined everyone’s shoes, and we got into our best duds that day. Dad usually wore a brown suit and a felt hat, and I wore one too. (Don’t laugh; I was an only child) It wasn’t unusual for my folks to rehearse the old refrain, “I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet,” written to celebrate the relational possibilities of going to ‘the Easter parade.’ We’d head out to church with expectations of seeing a lot of ‘extra’ folks at the service, seeing it was Easter Sunday. Even some of the ‘backsliders’ might make it out today!
Of course, in the intervening years God has gone rather casual and relaxed the dress code, even for Easter. Your best jeans will do in 2015 for most folks under 40.
For several years I’ve been a tailored clothing specialist for Dillard’s and not very many men actually buy a new suit or sport coat for Easter. But during the past two weeks I’ve had dozens of people purchase trousers, shirts, or ties for today. Our conversations involve their plans for after church, relatives they might be seeing for the first time in a while, or how excited the kids are about the Easter egg hunt the church has arranged. Some even still plan to make it to the increasingly rare ‘sunrise service.’
But in all of those conversations I never heard the words, ‘Jesus,’ ‘resurrection,’ or any word of thanks or praise for the event everyone is supposed to be celebrating. I would have thought at least one person would have. My job is always an interesting window into the soul of American culture, or at least a small slice of it, and it never ceases to surprise me how much religious terminology and references are made by good folks who almost never use “The Name above every name.”
So, my prayer is that we’ll keep His name on our lips and in our conversation on purpose going forward. Believers sometimes express concern over the sharp rise in Muslim influence here and around the world, but why are we surprised? Prayers are offered once, and sometimes more often each day, and “Allah be praised” is a regular expression in Muslim conversation. When professing Christians appear oblivious to Who Easter is actually about, it deepens our realization that we must wear our colors and ‘walk the walk’ if the gospel is going to have real traction in the spiritual muck of the 21st century.
Happy Easter, dear ones! Jeanie and I are celebrating today, as we do every day, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! He’s a living Savior, and we’re blessed to live, and love, and serve in His great name! And thank you for your faith and love toward the Lord. What a blessing it is to know you’re out there Keeping the faith and letting your light shine. We’re strengthened by that. Be blessed!!