Why I am not ‘pulling out all the stops’ this Easter

“How can we make this Easter stand out?” “What are some ways we can make this Easter service even more memorable than last?” “Anyone got any good ideas?”

Picture these questions thundering from an over caffeinated CEO standing at the head of a glass boardroom table enthusiastically waving his hands at a blank white board. And picture a staff team slouching around the table, bleary eyed, contemptuously chewing gum with their mouths open, looking at their CEO with a blank, exhausted look that would make BIllie Elish proud.

This caricature draws more than a little resemblance with many evangelical churches in America. Easter is a time when many ‘nominal Christians’ (Christians by name only) succumb to the cultural pressure to get out of bed and go to church. And so many church leadership teams recognize that Easter is a once a year opportunity to attract and potentially retain these cultural Christians seeking their obligatory religious experience. And so the staff teams of many of these churches hit the caffeine and fly to the white boards to brainstorm new and creative ways to attract these folks. 

Putting the snark aside, a virtuous church hits the easter season with a righteous sense of anticipation for what the Holy Spirit might do in and through their easter programing. God works through means after all. And a virtuous staff team rightly realizes that God may use their church’s easter programing to help people meet Jesus and grow in their personal relationship with Him. No problems here. Let’s invite the masses. Let’s stand on our stumps and loudly herald the gospel of Christ crucified, risen, and reigning. And let’s not spare the coffee, the skilled instruments and the loud singing (Ps 33:3) The world needs to hear about the best news after all. And how will they hear unless someone tells them (Rom 10:14). 

But not all staff teams are virtuous. Not all lead pastors are pastors. Not all meat is meat. Sometimes what you’re biting into is just pink slime. Some less than virtuous church leadership teams function less like ministers of the gospel and more like exterior construction salesmen at a trade show. No offense to the construction salesmen. But you know what I mean. There are Tin Men out there who care most about capturing leads and turning leads into customers. And when churches function this way around Easter time church leaders become like those annoying guys marketing to my instagram hollering about lead funnels and how they built a six figure business with nothing but a laptop and a stretchy pair of boxer briefs. 

A church that salivates over the chance at attracting the seeker for the purpose of growing their church, will be tempted to turn the Lord’s Day into a lead funnel circus. Now don’t get me wrong. I love a good carnival. I’ll be first in line when River Boat Days makes its glorious parousia here in Clinton. But the circus pedals a distinctively different product than the church. Anyone that has ever been to both knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Both the church and the circus fly the banner of “come and experience!” But the circus and the church have two different goals in mind. The circus experience is the goal. The entire point is that you are entertained. That’s the reason you pay money at the gate. The point is that you experience a show that entertains you. The church on the other hand, despite the presence of a t- shirt cannon, helicopter flyovers, food trucks, or lead pastor skits and antics, has an entirely different purpose. It is to call people to repentance and faith in Christ. The circus points people to itself. The church points people beyond itself to Christ. 

And since a church’s ultimate aim on Easter is not to entertain it often feels like a bait and switch to folks. It’s like “hey, we're just glad you're here! But, by the way, go and fill out that connection card, repent of your sins that are leading you to hell, surrender your entire life to King Jesus, get baptized, and become a member of this local church.” An astute seeker would pause and wonder if they were being sold something. If that really is the main message why not just say that. Why all the other fluff and fuss? Just tell me straight up that’s why you're doing this. 

That’s why I’m writing this little piece of snark. It’s not to be snarky. I love the local church and I love the passionate worship gatherings that will happen all over the country this time of year. But what I don’t like is the cheeeeeese. I don’t like the schmaltzy, stinky cheese man, song and dance churches think they need to do in order to “win” people. The gospel ought to be enthusiastically proclaimed and received like an expensive scotch—straight, and with no seven up to chase. Or if you’d like, a tall glass of unpasteurized milk. Whatever, you pick the metaphor for this one. 

Christian leaders also need to read the room. There are less and less folks going to church in America. To put it crudely, there are fewer and fewer people seeking the goods and services the evangelical church is offering. However there are churches that are growing in the sea of dead and dying ones. And what nobody wants to say out loud is that most of this church growth is transfer growth. A reshuffling of the deck. This is not necessarily immoral. Many churches need to die because they no longer preach the gospel or they have become so lethargic, and have abdicated their God given stewardship to the extent that they are no more than a social club drawing from the historic trust fund to keep the lights on so they can play bridge in the basement. Nevertheless, in a post Christian culture it’s important to recognize that each Easter it is becoming more like what Bilbo said to Gandalf: “I feel like not enough butter being spread over too much toast.” 

My point is that our Easter antics can come across as desperate to an increasingly cynical and bleary eyed world. But not the kind of desperation David had for God’s glorious presence in Psalm 63. The desperation I’m talking about is the, please come to my church… I'll do anything… just please come and serve and give money so we can stay financially solvent and pay the bills, kind of desperation. 

Both David and the American church on Easter are interested in self preservation. But one is interested in the right kind of self preservation. David’s obsession was like a starving man's obsession for food. Without God he would die. He was like Poo Bear searching for God as his honey to fill the God sized hole in his tummy. A church that has veered from this obsession with God is prone to self preservation in shallow ways. Which can lead to the bouncing Tigger-like easter performances we see each year. 

Our church will not be ‘pulling out all the stops’ this easter. You may say indignantly, “well, pastor, you're missing out on an opportunity to reach the lost.” And I would say, you're missing out on an opportunity to rest. Which I would argue is genuinely more attractive to the lost. The world we live in is buzzing with constant anxiety like an x brain yoyo. And I refuse to walk the dog. I’d much rather help people enter into the presence of our resurrected Christ and participate in the resurrection life; to live in the fullness of the freedom Jesus purchased by his finished work on the cross. 

This does not mean we won't gather enthusiastically on Sunday to sing, to proclaim, and to celebrate the Gospel. Lord willing I’ll be walking on tiptoe like an excited 4 year old anticipating what God may do through our church service. We will certainly tickle the ivories and plunk on those electric guitar strings. But we will seek to do it in a way that embraces our limitations as human beings. 

One of the sludgy by-products of the post Christian age we live in is epidemic levels of burnout. Church members are just bone weary. But despite this bone wariness there persists in church leadership a foolhardy attitude that acts like the show must go on, despite the fact that people are tired of the antics. And I honestly feel like every church leadership team is facing a Rehoboam moment (1 Kings 12). The people are tired from all their burdens. They are wanting the load lightened and to be freed from their task masters. But the leadership, in their pride, refuses to lighten the load. Instead they increase it. And like Rehoboam's actions, the consequences inevitably lead to a divided kingdom, where families tap out and go home. 

But what if there was another way? I think there is. What if the church embraced an ordinary easter in order to highlight the extraordinary savior?

There are times and seasons when the church bears witness to the miraculous, to the sensational, to the incredible power of the Spirit. And indeed the very power that rose Christ from the dead lives inside each and every one of us who put our faith in Christ. But what if this power revealed itself to you over breakfast? 

This is what Jesus did with the disciples (John 21:12). What if instead of searching for circus Jesus we were surprised to find table Jesus. What if this year Jesus calmed your anxieties like your best friend's mom used to do when she invited you over for supper and laid out a nice spread of pigs and a blanket. Wouldn’t that be nice.

The resurrected Christ did after all make a point to proclaim peace to those who he appeared to. This peace means wholeness. The resurrected Christ brings a Spirit wrought wholeness to those who find him. And so it’s worth asking yourself: Do I find peace in the way I celebrate Easter? Do my unbelieving neighbors find peace in our Easter practices? When you strike the bell of the gospel does it ring out sweet and melodious. Or is it like hitting concrete with an aluminum bat, leaving your hands feeling all tingly. 

I guess what I'm saying is that Jesus can stand on his own two legs. And that’s good news. He doesn’t need our circus. He doesn’t need our fuss. He doesn’t need our anxiety. None of those things moved the stone and emptied the tomb. God did that all by himself. 

The good news is that by faith in the resurrected Christ you are free from burn out. You won't ultimately die tired and weary from a life of cursed toil. By faith in Christ your destinies are intertwined. Just as Jesus rose bodily you will rise bodily. And just as Jesus lived in the power of the Spirit you will live in the power of the Spirit. And he has promised that one day he will return to bring peace and renew the entire world. And we will live with him in sweet fellowship in the New Creation forever. So let’s give people a foretaste of that now.

So let the gospel shape your practice. Yes, go to church and praise the King with the body of Christ. But leave some gas in the tank to get up early with your wife and have a mimosa. Have lunch with your family. Spend the evening on the porch with your neighbors lingering in conversation. Lean into practices that send a clear message to the world what Easter is for. It is for pointing people to the presence of Christ where they will experience wholeness and joy. 

Until we learn that the Spirit of God empowers us to be witnesses to the resurrection at the breakfast table, and not just at the church program, we will feel like something is missing. But brothers and sisters, in Christ nothing is missing.

Peace be with you.