There is a good possibility that your
experience with children is much like mine.
Most children hold some characteristics in
common. Almost universally very young children enjoy spending time with their
parents. They seem to crave our attention – especially one-on-one interaction.
All of my children loved to be read to. And, as adults, most of them are avid
readers. When reading to them as children I noticed they loved repetition. (Really
it drove me nuts.) They wanted the same book or books read to them over and
over and over. I may be one of the few people you know that has the book “Mickey
Goes on a Picnic” memorized. Rarely do I walk out into a bright, sunny day and
not think, “It’s a beautiful day for a picnic; it’s a picnical day for a lark.”
Generally speaking, I don’t care for
repetition. I rarely read the same book twice or watch a movie for the second
time. There are exceptions to that rule. I have watched “The Princess Bride”, “O
Brother, Where Art Thou”, and “Field of Dreams” so many times I have most of
the dialogue memorized. But those are truly exceptions. I don’t like to repeat
myself; I don’t want to hear most sermons a second time; and my least favorite
times to preach are Easter and Christmas.
I love Easter and Christmas. Christmas is
the ultimate feel good holiday. It just doesn’t get any better than a love
story about a young couple who rise above the clatter of busy lives and the gossip
of nosey neighbors and difficult times and hang together against all odds. And then
they have a baby. Nothing better happens than babies. They are so cute and
sweet (When they are asleep.) and smell so good (Immediately following a good
cleaning and powdering.). And their baby arrived special delivery from God. Add
on top of that: lots of good food; stomping the snow off your shoes and gathering
around a fire to get warm; telling stories of Christmas’s past; and presents –
lots and lots of presents. Who wouldn’t like Christmas?
Then there is Easter. It comes during the Spring
of the year. Winter is ending and the weather is warming up. The grass and
trees add an encouraging mist of green to the landscape; bright flowers pop out
seemingly overnight; there is an oddly exciting smell in the air; the days are
longer and brighter; everything seems new. The cross was full and the tomb is
empty. Our sins are forgiven and we have a fresh start. Life is again doable, Death
has been overcome. Fear is gone. Life is new and full and forever. Jesus is
alive and so are we. We are welcomed into a loving relationship with a God who
loves us. Like Christmas, Easter comes with the added pleasures of food and parties
and candy and family gatherings. Easter is the best.
Here is my problem with Holy Week. It comes
around every year. The story doesn’t change. (Even though we of the church
never stop attempting to give it a new twist. It is not that the story is wrong
or meaningless – I think we just get bored with it.) If one is a believer very
long, the story becomes repetitious. As I read it I can’t help but think, “Hey,
I already know this story. I know how it ends. Tell me something new.” On top
of that, I have to preach on it. And it is just difficult to think of something
new and interesting to say about the same subjects that reappear on the church
calendar year after year.
So I have spent hours thinking and praying
about what to preach about on Easter Sunday and have had an awesome revelation.
Since it is the most important event in the history of humankind and since it is
an event that has the possibility of impacting every life on earth for eternity.
Since it is the event from which most of humankind measures time, this Easter I
think I will preach on the resurrection. What do you think? Good idea, huh?
Copyright © 2013, William T. McConnell, All
Rights Reserved
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