Holy Week, especially Easter, sees more people come to church than most Sundays, but an overall decline in church life is well documented. “For the first time in eight decades, fewer than 50% of Americans say they belong to a church, synagogue or mosque amid an ongoing steep decline in religious attendance, according to a new biannual Gallup poll” (Mike Stunson, Lexington Herald-Leader). Might part of the decline be our own weak presentation of who Jesus is today?
For example, consider these days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, after which life gets back to “normal.” Americans are spectators. We watch the NCAA tournament, and then move on. We watch a show, and then move on. So, on Good Friday we will “see” Jesus on the cross and move on. And Easter Sunday, “wasn’t that a beautiful service?” and we move on. Come Monday, when our messed-up world reasserts itself, what help are the visuals of Christ on the cross and the empty tomb?
Well, you can say, “My sins are forgiven and I’m going to heaven,” true, but isn’t that a form of escapism? The world is nasty, but I got my forgiveness ticket punched and one day will go to happy heaven. And that’s another subtle undermining of the church, American individualism. What about the mission of Christ’s people together to today’s world in such great hurt and death without Him? “Where the local church fails to serve the individual’s journey satisfactorily, it may be replaced by a form of community more adept at doing so” (Douglas Farrow, “Ascension and Ecclesia,” 102).
The text for my Good Friday sermon at our church: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…. (Christ) has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities and powers having been subjected to him” (1 Peter 3:18, 22). What we “see” on Good Friday is Jesus who was on the cross for us but now is risen and ascended as Lord of all, and He’s promising He will physically be seen by all of us. I think the following is true: “American religious belief and practice have been overtaken by a spiritual ennui and drift.” (Brent Orrel, “Tribes in the Desert,” The Bulwark). If these next days our faith “sees” Jesus not just as history back then, but Lord now and to be visible again, how can we not be energized in our life together and for the world?
I’ll be back after Easter. May these days stimulate your faith!
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