God’s Post-Easter Promise
The days of Passion Week are so significant many of them have been given special names: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I am inclined to think the day after Easter should be designated Meditation Monday. After this enormous collective outpouring of time and energy it seems we ought to pause and consider what it was all about. I know it was exciting and enjoyable; that’s almost guaranteed. But what did God think about it? Were we aimed in a good direction? Did we spend our energy wisely? Those are tougher questions and well worth pondering while seeding grass in freshly raked topsoil on a crisp spring Monday.
I increasingly tend to think this way as Passion Week becomes a well-worn path. Last Sunday was the 16th time I have preached the Easter message at Evergreen Bible Church. It would have been my 18th except for a mission trip in 2007 and a nasty flu bug in 2002 which required an emergency call to Don Walley at 4:00am to pinch-preach for me. But my personal Easter experiences are irrelevant compared to the larger tradition that has been observed for the last two millennia. Easter services are an annual outpouring of heart and soul and hope by church bodies who love Jesus Christ. I expect we all essentially are aiming for the same thing: genuine joy in the risen Savior and an open invitation for the unsaved to join the fold. So…how did it go?
The dilemma is that these primary goals of joy and new believers are difficult to measure. Much easier to count how many chairs were filled or how many cinnamon rolls were consumed. There are some clues we can notice that may give us an indication, but in the end we have to accept that we just don’t really know a lot of specifics.
However, here is what I do know. Jesus Christ is alive and is sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven. By his resurrection he has demolished the power of sin and death. Therefore, Jesus tells us, we are to keep pouring ourselves into his work, which includes Easter services, because he promises that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:58)
Meditation Monday has left me with a Tuesday conviction that last Sunday was a great day at Evergreen in God’s eyes.
Pastor Toby
Categories: Evergreen Connection