Ask any good church person and you’ll quickly discover that Easter has nothing to do with either bunnies, baskets or eggs; our private, familial celebrations notwithstanding. It is a mark of some level of failure on the part of the church when we note that our society associates this holiday more with those items than the resurrection story. Society, it seems, would rather celebrate hopping bunnies than empty tombs.

That’s not to say that society isn’t interested in the great themes of Easter. There seems to be a huge “hunger” for stories that celebrate self-sacrificial love and the triumph of the solitary, good individual over an evil regime, as one recent box-office hit verifies. I wonder, what’s happened to the Easter message that it no longer resonates in the same way as these other, popular messages? Might the answer be in the way we in the church are telling our story?

To a world that finds fault in “systems” but promotes the virtues of self-esteem, we say that Jesus died for their sins. We’re speaking right past many of them. “What sins?” They reply.

To a people who have been raised to “grab as much gusto” from this life as possible, we say that Jesus died so that they can go to heaven. Then we do a rather poor job of explaining to them what heaven might be like or why they would want to go. “So what?” They ask us, and the message of Easter gets discounted as irrelevant.

What if we were to reclaim the message of Easter?

What if we were to posit in the hearts and minds of society that this world around us is not the product of chance randomness spinning haphazardly toward an unknown destination? What if we made the claim that this world actually had a good beginning from the work of a loving creator and was set askew by some of the very same forces plaguing our world today? What if we told how the world’s creator loved his project too much to leave it spin off into self-destructive chaos; that he enacted a rescue plan and, bore the heavy cost of that rescue himself? Dare we not explain how the creator allowed the forces of chaos and death to expend themselves upon himself, and once spent, he was declared victorious over them?

This is the story of Easter. The agents of death pound nails through flesh into a Roman cross and lift high the King of the Jews. Those in power, threatened by his kingdom, mock and curse him from below. On the cross, in love, Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” With his dying breath, having suffered the worst that the powers had to offer, he proclaimed, “It is finished.”

There were other voices at the cross that day. Some eerily echoing today’s marketing ploys urged him to “hop on down and save (yourself, if you truly are the Son of God.)” Thankfully, those messages did not carry the day. Jesus died, and three days later – new life.

And so I ask you now, what’s your story of Easter? (I know the baskets, bunnies and eggs are for home, with the kids.) What do you tell people that you believe about the Resurrection? Are you always ready to explain the reason for the hope that is in you? (1 Peter 3:15) And, prayerfully inspired by God’s Spirit, is your Resurrection story one that will captivate hearts and minds in the telling?

Praying that our message is greater than “hop on down and save,”

Pastor Clint

I’m a musical person, and to me, songs can “make or break” a funeral service.  Some songs are more appropriate than others for such an occasion.  I personally favor the hymns, such as “In the Garden” or “Where He Leads Me.”  One of the more remarkable things I remember from any funerals I’ve officiated is the one which ended with the playing of Sinatra singing, “I Did It My Way.”  There’s much to be inferred from that selection, but the one concept I want to advance for the purposes of this note is autonomy.  The question which develops is this: What song you want playing at your funeral?

One of the books to return with me from that Chicago trip is “The Drama of Scripture,” by  Bartholomew and Goheen.  In this text, the authors examine the broad, sweeping narrative of the Bible to flesh out its story-line and theology.  Their focus is on covenant and kingdom, but within those bounds and from the very beginning of the story, they note mankind’s struggle for autonomy.

The first several chapters of Genesis tell us of the goodness of creation and God’s intention for man to both remain in relationship with Him and, flowing from that relationship, to rule over creation as God’s representative.  There was harmony and order.  All was under God’s rule.  Everything was “good.”  The gifts of the garden came with only one prohibition, “Do not eat from that one tree” (Genesis 2:17).

We chafe at such restrictions, don’t we?  That, in itself, is a symptom of what ails us.  I’ve heard believers wonder, aloud, “Why that one commandment?”  What marked that tree as different, special, better or other from all of the rest of the trees in the garden?  The short answer is: nothing, save for the direct commandment of God to leave that one tree sacrosanct.  Once more, the issue is one of autonomy.  I suppose a definition is in order.

Autonomy: from the Greek, autonomos “having its own laws,” from autos “self” + numos “law.” – (credit to the New Oxford American Dictionary.)

Thus, this word has come to mean self-governing or becoming a law unto oneself.  This is what was at issue with that one tree in the garden.  This was, and remains, the fundamental choice for all humankind: self-rule verses God’s rule.  Which will we choose?  Better yet, which will you choose?

So, what song do you want played when it comes time for your funeral?  (Don’t feel in any way as if I’m rushing you.)  Shall we play something along the lines of “All The Way My Savior Leads Me” or will it be “I Did It My Way” ?  The choices you make today help to determine your answer.

Praying for less autonomy and more “thy will be done…”

Pastor Clint

“What’s that?” I can hear someone asking, “Hoodie-What?”  No.  It’s Hoodie-Hoo.  It’s the day wherein we are all urged to go outside and shout “Hoodie-Hoo,” to chase away winter and bring in spring.  It’s an actual holiday.  Believe me.  It’s got a website and everything.

Of course, February could change this, but so far this winter has been just fine with me.  Goldilocks would love this winter.  It’s not too hot and not too cold.  It’s been just right.

I started the new year with some readjustments around the house.  We’re back on the “healthy lifestyle” bandwagon at my home, and I’m here to tell you, it’s a major effort.  This Dr., to whom I recently went, started describing her idea of a healthy meal by drawing a circle on a piece of paper.  “Let’s say this circle is your plate,” the Dr. said.  Then she drew a line dividing my “plate” equally in half.  “This half,” she said, pointing to the left, the ‘sinister’ side, “is for all of your vegetables.”  She drew another line dividing the right half into quarters.  “This top quarter,” she advised, “is for your lean meats.  The bottom quarter is for your carbs.”  She then went on to advise me that I was limited on the carbs and proteins, but I could pretty much have all of the vegetables that I wanted.

I quickly pointed out what I saw as the flaw in her diagram.  “All of the vegetables that I wanted” could most easily fit into one of the quarter-plate slots on the right, whereas the half-plate, on the left, would be better served hosting a juicy slab of grilled steak.  She remained clinically detached and unsympathetic.

I then explained that “all of the vegetables that I wanted” consisted chiefly of sweet corn and various iterations of the potato family.  I was then told, in no uncertain terms, that neither of those “vegetables” were actually “vegetables” as far as this demonstration was concerned, and in fact, those items should properly be placed on the “carb quarter-plate” section.  To that I strongly objected saying, “But if those go there, then there won’t be any room on my ‘plate’ for my dessert!”

“Exactly,” agreed Dr. Killjoy.

I wish there were a way to say “Hoodie-Hoo” to bad health habits.  Wouldn’t it be great just to wish your troubles away: to chase away the bad and welcome in what’s good for you?  Life doesn’t work that way, does it?  We discover, often to our regret, that habits are hard to break.

But if that’s true about bad habits, then why is it we don’t put more effort into developing those good habits that life (and spirituality) require?  The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go,  And when he is old he will not depart from it.”  (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV)  I think that verse speaks something into the responsibility of parents to instill good habits into their children.  And as we grow older, we are to become responsible for ourselves.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got plenty of habits to relearn.  They won’t go away by my shouting at (or about) them.  (Just ask my wife.)  They will change through effort and discipline.  And it wouldn’t hurt to add in lots of prayers.  I’ll need those, certainly.

What about you?  Does my story remind you of something in your life you’ve been meaning to change?  Have you been hollering your version of “Hoodie-Hoo” at the problem, but it just won’t go away?  Why not take the first step towards a new life today?    If it’s a spiritual problem you’re wanting to change, then that first step begins with Jesus.

Praying for you as, together, we step into a better tomorrow,

Pastor Clint

You may be familiar with my stance in years past of being critical toward “New Year’s Resolutions.”  I have found little use for them and have scorned their practice.  I have been reading something recently that has caused me to revisit this position.

In his 2011 book, ‘Thirsting for God,” Gary L. Thomas makes a strong case for goal-setting as a part of discipleship.  He notes that, for most believers, the goal of the Christian life is salvation.  Since salvation was won by Jesus on the cross and is a free gift for the believer upon repentance, the new believer has received the goal of Christianity the moment of their conversion.  Thomas says, “We’ve started at the finish line.  All that is left to do is hold on and wait for the award ceremony to begin. (pg. 20)”

Unfortunately, this often leaves one with a stunted form of spirituality.  The church is left “more like an evangelistic club than a place where people can grow deep” in the things of God.”

Thomas goes on to posit that the first step toward “an authentic Christian spirituality” is to get a clear picture of a mature Christian.  The Bible and history gives us many examples of people devoted to Christian maturity.  If we ignore their examples our spiritual growth, if it happens at all, will be haphazard and random.  Thomas argues that believers should set goals for their spiritual development and measure their progress against them.  As John Climacus wrote in his “Ladder of Divine Ascent,” – “Regarding every vice and virtue, we must unceasingly scrutinize ourselves to see what point we have reached, a beginning, a middle or the end.”

With this in mind, I plan to spend the first several days of this new year doing some “goal tending.”  In that, I intend to spiritually survey where I am and where I should be going, with God’s help.  I am certain that Gary’s book will help me in this.  He lays out some great historical examples and explains how those people strove for God.  By this time next month, I hope to be “pressing on” and “striving” (to use some Biblical words) toward the goal that God reveals for my spiritual journey this coming year.

How about you?  What is your goal for spiritual growth?  Do you even have one?  Are you reaching for one now?  What do you believe God would like you to become in this new year?  Without a goal, how will you know if you made it, or if you were close or even got half-way?

Praying for your “goal tending” in the year ahead,

Pastor Clint

Watch Gary Thomas here: