Remember that Easter of 2020?

Kelly and I started our new Easter tradition this year.  Big steaks!  Hey, it is easy to do when there are only three of us here.  Not the tradition we wanted to start, that is for sure.  This is the first Easter that Kelly has not made a big Sunday Lunch for all the family.  We have grown from four kids to add three partners and two grandkids and expect days like this to be noisy and full of laughter and joy. 

In the last several years, dyeing Easter eggs, hiding Easter baskets full of candy and plastic eggs and making cookies are just a few of the holiday traditions we embraced.  When our kids got too old to dye Easter eggs, we added in hunting Easter Eggs.  For those of you not familiar with this practice, we would hide eggs around the back yard, then hunt them with bb guns.  Some were boiled and some were not – you never knew what you were going to get until you hit the mark.  Didn’t matter if you were family or guest, this was always a hit, and there was more fighting over the more accurate gun than there ever was over who got the wishbone at Thanksgiving.  Oh, those were the days.

During the quiet of this morning, we had a lot of time to think about what we are missing out on. The most significant temptation was to just let this day be like all the others we have had recently – another day to shelter in place, work puzzles and watch Hallmark movies.  No one would blame us if we did this, allowing this day to fade from memory, so at Easter 2021, we had nothing to remember as significant from the day.

The truth is this is a very significant time in our history.  I heard Rick Warren say this morning that this is the first time in 2000 years we have had a world-wide shutdown in the ability to worship God collectively.  Something the worlds dictators, rulers, lawmakers and terrorists could not stop, a small virus was able to decimate.  Even with a huge choice of on-line services, sermons and music it still has not been the same.

For many of us, myself included, this is not the first time we have been hit with the worship virus.  This is whatever has come up in our lives that stopped us from wanting to worship God.  The virus has taken many forms, see if you can relate to any of these:

• ·       Late Saturday nights
• ·       Early mornings on the lake
• ·       Knowing it will be broadcast live, then forgetting to turn it on
• ·       Travel sports
• ·       Golf with the group
• ·       The pleasure of a soft pillow
• ·       The sermon series- just not something important to me
• ·       Don’t like the music anymore
• ·       Someone there made you mad or hurt your feelings
• ·       You’ve got the message, don’t need any more help
• ·       Guilty about something and don’t want to be reminded

Several of these have impacted my desire to get up and leave the house on a Sunday. 

Look at the list, though.  There is nothing there that says you are not allowed to go. That is what makes this pandemic so significant for our faith.  We are going to see just how significant when the restrictions are lifted.  Will we feel fresh and invigorated now that we can finally come together and worship as a group?  Will we see Sunday as that day we can get out of the house and do activities?  Or worse, will we see that during the pandemic we didn’t miss getting together to worship, and just let the worship virus take over?

My hope is that I will be more energized than ever to get back with my fellow believers and enjoy the laughter and conversations we have been missing.  I want to desire the time of worship and sing louder than ever before (sorry to the people in front of me).  I want to see, feel and hear the sermon up close and personal – not with a 42-inch screen.

If I let this get away from me, why would I not expect the significance of Easter to fade as well.  I will be so glad to be back spending time with the family that a special day like Easter 2021 becomes just one of many family times, not a celebration of the best day in history.  Before I go to bed tonight, I plan to reflect on the resurrection one more time.  I want to make sure that the importance is not lost in the noise of the quiet!  My prayer for you is that you experience the same, and that next year this time is one of the most rewarding ever.