It’s finished. Easter Sunday 2011 has come, and gone. For those of us in “church world” this means many weeks of planning, thought, prayer, and preparation has culminated in what is normally one of the biggest Sundays of the year.
We celebrated, we sang, we read, we prayed, and we listened. So what’s next? Time to take a break, right?
I’m guilty of this propensity for complacency as much as the next guy. But why do we, as churches, fail to “follow up” Easter with thought-out and prepared services? Here’s a hint: if you want the biggest representation of the value a church places on its gatherings and teaching time, visit on the Sunday after Easter.
Careful, though. Thought-out and prepared is different than manufacturing an emotional ride. Sometimes we fall victim to the “restful” mindset of complacency. In planning for Easter, we’re forgotten that (barring Jesus’ return mid-week) we’re going to have another service next Sunday. Lost and hurting people will be walking into the church doors on the next week searching for the same truths that were presented so grandly on Easter Sunday. Other times, we fall victim to trying to tame the beast called “momentum”, and somehow follow up all the emotional buildup of Easter with something inherently phenomenal. In doing so, we forget about Jesus and the Cross. If the following Sunday becomes about following up momentum from Easter, we’ve still missed the point.
Let’s return to the crux of our faith (pardon the pun). Jesus was risen on Easter. He’s risen the week after, too. It’s not our place to make something phenomenal out of that truth: it’s inherently so. Don’t fall victim to unprofitable mindsets.