Holy Discontent

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

I write with the excitement of the empty tomb in my heart. I would like to relay a story from my trip to the Holy Land. We were visiting the chapel which is built around what might have been the tomb that Jesus rose from, one of the guys on the tour (a bit of a cut-up) went into the small space and emerged and looked at our tour guide saying, "He's not there!" our tour guide smiled, others in the group laughed. Later, the tour guide hearkened back to that moment and said, "Isn't it wonderful that Jesus wasn't there. Some people come to the Holy Land looking for Jesus. But for us, Lutheran Christians, we hold Jesus in our hearts because we know that we won't find Jesus here ... we know that he has risen, Alleluia!"

I have to admit that in the midst of the excitement over Easter I find myself with Holy Discontent (a concept coined by Bill Hybels to discuss those things that one feels so passionate about they can do no other than act on them) about the way most people treat Easter. I was almost pleased to see a larger than average crowd gathered for worship yesterday. It was nice to see some new faces, people who were maybe visiting from out of town, but more than likely people who feel that they have now done their duty and don't have to return until Christmas. So why even come? What's the point? Does it somehow lift your guilt from the year to know that you've taken this one morning to be with the Lord?

I also have to add that the worship space was beautiful. It was nicely adorned with colorful flowers, lively artwork, and vivid altar decorations. But I can't help but to think that next week we will be back to one or two flower arrangements, plain walls, and an altar adorned with a basic white cloth.

Does God not deserve our best when we come for worship? Should we not bring the excitement of Easter to worship each time we come into God's presence? Can we not make our relationship with God a priority and carve out time each week to be in God's presence?

A friend of mine who is a pastor in Wisconsin recently wrote on his blog about his frustration with his confirmation class. I added a comment to his blog that essentially said, "the system is broken and we can't be afraid to fix it." My friend understands the problems, but it seems he is trapped in a system that won't allow him to fix the problem. He is trapped with apathetic parents who are dropping off their children to "get religion" (sorry parents, Christianity is NOT a spectator sport). He is trapped with apathetic kids who would rather being doing anything than sitting in a confirmation class (I say, let them ... if they don't want to be there, I've got better things to do with my time). He is trapped in a system where confirmation is a "rite of passage" that can be compared to High School graduation, at the end of which the students say, "I'm outta here" (and statistics show how many young people leave the church at the point and NEVER come back). He's trapped with families who are at least honest enough to tell him, "I have more important things to do than to be a Christian." (again I say, good riddance, we don't need you in the church).

Now, I may sound a bit harsh ... afterall, if we get rid of all of the people who don't put God first all of the time then we've got no one left (and yes, that includes the pastors, because frankly, we all sin and put other things before our relationship with God once in a while) but there are communities of people who at least try to put God first in their life. I have been fortunate to be part of such communities. People who long to gather on Sunday mornings not for the coffee and donuts, but for the experience with the Living Saviour. People who realize that church is not just a Sunday Morning event, but spend each day of the week serving God in all that they do. People who are so excited for ministry that they are telling their friends about what happened in church on Sunday or in their small group on Tuesday night. Do these people sound familiar? They sound a bit like Jesus' disciples, but they also sound like people I have met in various places across the country.

Just like the picture at the beginning of this blog shows, the tomb is empty ... it's time to tell people about it and be excited about the life we get to live because of it!