It's Easter and I Sure Miss Preaching
I don’t miss being a lead pastor, but I do miss preaching. On today of all days, Easter Sunday, I am most keenly aware of the void in my heart that exists because I have not had many opportunities in the last few years to engage in pulpit ministry. I haven’t preached an Easter sermon in probably 10 years. Easter messages are the best ones to preach!
Understand, I’m not whining because some pastor hasn’t opened their pulpit to me on Easter. On the contrary, I want to acknowledge that there is no better day of the year to preach than on Resurrection Sunday and every pastor has earned the right to preach that message.
The Easter message is all good, all hope, all blessing, and is the linchpin of our entire Christian faith. The tomb is empty, He is not there, He’s alive, Hallelujah, He is risen!
As I write this, I find myself moved to tears just simply speaking those words. He is risen! I want to shout that from the pulpit, somewhere. Maybe here? Maybe to the 38 people who started following this blog in its infancy; we're not even a week old. He is risen!
Let’s be honest, we live in troubled times, in a divided nation with a lethargic church that often preaches little more than sin management systems and therapeutic moral Theism. No matter, He is risen!
We live in a world that dignifies death as a choice, perversion as entertainment, and crushing one’s enemies under one’s feet as a righteous victory. No matter, He is risen!
We live in a world where hope is misplaced in money, misassigned to material things, and misinterpreted as having every pleasure available now. No matter, He is risen!
We see our precious brothers and sisters cut down this very day in Sri Lanka, but do not despair. Do not allow hatred to grow in your hearts or permit evil into your thoughts. We must forgive them of such evil because they “know not what they do.” And we must remember that our fallen family knew that Jesus is alive, they had placed their trust in Him and in this very moment they are present with Him in Heaven.
Yes, what the enemy meant for evil, God has used for good once again. Our fallen brothers and sisters had hope, because of our fallen brother, Jesus, who gives us that same hope. That matters and He is risen!
Now let us go boldly proclaim that message of hope through our lives, through our lips, and through our love, that all may hear that Jesus Christ is resurrected, death has lost its sting, and we have a hope which cannot ever be overcome. HE IS RISEN!