Easter is right around the corner. The churches will see their highest attendance for the year (maybe competing with Christmas). There will be children and adults dressed to impress with their pretty dresses and suits. Women and girls may even wear hats. The men will look dapper and may have even washed the car so they can arrive in style. There will be an inordinate amount of smiles around the church that day. So, what's the big deal? The big deal is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead so that we can have the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. I only wish those who were doing their semi-annual attendance knew Jesus and wanted to show him off in their lives as much as their presentation on the day the rest of the world sees as a holiday. A day where you get together and have family dinners, chase after fictional beliefs we pass onto our unsuspecting children and eat too much chocolate. There is a greater element that we overlook on Easter. We don't practice Easter every day of the year. People go about their day as if everything is fine, all are well, and tomorrow will be better than today.
I once preached the crucifixion on Christmas at a small church I pastored. The people were shocked! No, that wasn't my motive. I was preaching through the book of John and it just so happened that the crucifixion came up during Christmas. I didn't want to break my stride or the message God had given me so I preached Christ crucified and risen. Sometimes we get the cart before the horse. The point of Christ coming to "dwell among mankind" wasn't to be a baby. It wasn't to grow up and study in the synagogue. Nor was it to walk along the waterfront telling fishermen how to fish. He came to save the lost, heal the sick and give hope to the hopeless. He came to die and be resurrected! For you! For me! For everyone! That's the point and not pretty dresses and semi-annual church attendance. The point isn't cute little candies inside of plastic eggs hidden in your backyard. The point isn't showing up to show off. The point is to glorify God for what he did to save mankind from themselves. The point isn't about me. It's about Jesus.
Ironically, the dawn is breaking this morning and the sky is afire with all shades of red and orange. The glory of God's creation is manifesting itself and I love it! There is no greater joy than to be in the presence of God and just "be." Once upon a time I wouldn't have noticed the sunrise or the sunset. The small things of creation would have been of little notice to me. My life was centered around myself. Perhaps you have been or are still in that place? With the breaking of the dawn (nothing is broken during the process except my attention), we have new this morning and every moment of our day the newness of Christ and his love for us. He hasn't changed from the beginning of time and won't change in the future. He still loves us and died for us as if we were the only sinner to need salvation. He didn't die for pretty dresses, washed cars, ham dinner with family, and nice hats on the ladies. He died so that we could have fellowship with him.
The sunrise is different for everyone as everyone is in a different place to view it. From my point of view I look out my sliding doors and through the trees of my back yard to see the changing colors and the rising of the sun. From my point of view I look at the beginning of each day as one that the Son has created whereby he has given me a chance to deny self and to worship and love him. I don't need to have a special day of the year as every day is a special day. The more I see Christ in every day the less I see me. When I'm away from Christ or only show up twice a year, the vision fades and when that happens Christ isn't reflected in me. Then all the world sees are the outward presentation covering whatever it is we haven't given over to Christ. There will still be pretty dresses, nice hats, little boys in suits and ties with proud fathers coming twice a year to a service that should take place every day in every Christians life. But then we shouldn't assume that everyone coming to church knows Jesus. The sun rises on everyone but the Son isn't risen in everyone. It's all about your and my choice.
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