easter.

As Easter is quickly approaching, I am convicted.

This is an interesting time of year, there are bunny rabbits and eggs, but there are also more people thinking about Jesus Christ this time of year then in any other box on our calendars.

So we scurry to get the sinners into the church buildings and give a good show, because today, boys and girls, we have an audience.

And this audience allows the congregation to put tremendous pressure on the preacher for the special day... Time to dance... I don't intend to nap on this day, sir... oh no, not on Easter. Because you see, I've worn my daisy tie and seersucker suit, clearly, it's show time.

Time to sit back, relax, and let the Spirit move... Preach it. Amen.

The one Sunday of the year we have a packed meetinghouse of people who normally don't feel comfortable enough or even motivated to be a part of our congregations, and we are all sitting back in our daisy ties and seersucker suits (or for the sake of gender-inclusivity: our pastel-colored dresses and new high heels) waiting to be wowed. 

What. are. we. doing?

Oh, and about that conviction I mentioned in the first sentence, turns out I'm guilty.

I think all members of the Church have been guilty of this a time or two. 

If you don't already know what I'm getting at... the problem is this... 

We, as the Church, are sitting back on the easiest day we are going to get to reach out to people who are uncomfortable with being a part of the church with our hands folded neatly in our laps.

But do we not realize that these new faces have put themselves in this uncomfortable situation for a reason? They are in the building because they desire some kind of relationship with God, but the other 51 weeks in the year, they probably aren't comfortable being in that pew... and with our attitude on Easter... who could blame them?

We've dressed to impress (which is another blog entirely), we've put on a false air of everything-is-always-fine-and-dandy, ask shallow questions to further our surface relationships with one another, laugh our business office fake laughs, nod politely to the people you have to step across to get to your regular pew, and duck your head if we accidentally make eye contact with a stranger.  Oh, and this is just the stuff that happens every Sunday... so this excludes the bonus attitudes that Easter brings. Like the consumeristic view that the service had better be extra special, etc.

So it's no wonder that when the week after Easter rolls around... they just aren't all that interested in coming back.

Preachers typically preach over the heads of the visitors, and the regulars don't do much to genuinely reach out to them... probably because we don't know how... most have never really tried that hard to do it anyway.

So, if you are reading this, and maybe someone is... for ministers, recognize this moment as one to include the people that otherwise don't feel at home with the people of God... There is a reason they don't usually come to church!  They aren't there because of your superior Easter Sunday marketing, they are there because Jesus is doing something. So open up your language, acknowledge the fact that there are visitors here, but don't say it as if it is a mark of shame. Invite them into conversation about what it is the church has been missing to be relevant in their lives. Admit your faults and be ready and willing to seek reconciliation for the past and current mistakes of the church, because it's about time we admit that we have made several! God has opened the door for these people to see the holiness of the people of God, to see how the Spirit is using the Church for amazing things... making a difference in the community, impacting lives. So is our church alive through the Spirit? Are we bringing beautiful and vibrant change to our communities?

So that's where I would argue that the congregation, not the preacher, bears the burden of stepping up to the plate on Easter Sunday.  This is the time of year when the people on the "outside" will come to us... the people who are disenfranchised by the machine that the church has become are walking through its doors, maybe for the only time this year, maybe for the only time in their lives. So what are we going to do?

Leave the cheesy small-talk and your penny-loafers at home... be authentic.

Engage with the people around you, meet someone you've never met... maybe they've been going to your church for years, maybe they've never been before... meet them. Be a friend. Express the love of God that He has shown you!

The church should look different on Easter Sunday... there should be a Joy and a thankfulness among the people that spills over the isles from pew to pew, heart to heart. 

Jesus is risen!

Death has been defeated!

Don't you think we can at least show the Love of Christ to a stranger?

Don't you think we could at least offer someone a glimpse into our authentic self?

Don't you think it would be nice if those attitudes started with Easter, but then overflowed into the other 51 weeks of the year?

Just take a moment to consider why it is that people don't feel at home in your church... try to relate to them... and offer them a genuine gesture of friendship without strings attached.

Share Love.

We should know a thing or two about Love.

After all, it is Easter.

Thank you our risen Lord for this opportunity to love!  

More importantly Lord, thank you for the Love you have shown us... You came, you suffered, you died, but Lord you rose again! You are Love! You are Love! Show me how to Love like you have loved me, and teach me to see all  the opportunities I have to do so. 

Lord, take my life, and make it yours. 

Amen.