It’s Thursday of Easter week. Your to-do list may not be as completed as you would prefer. You may already be tired as you approach one of the busiest weekends of the year for your church. Everything feels important and urgent. In the middle of all of that pressure and exhaustion, it’s worth asking: what’s the most important part of all of this?
It’s not the sermon. It’s not the music. It’s not even the guest follow-up plan or children’s ministry activities.
The most important part about Easter is that it’s true.
A man who claimed to be God died and rose to life again. It really happened, and it changed the course of the world. It brought light to the darkness. It foreshadowed the hope we have in eternity. It provided a preview of the life to come.
Jesus is alive!
The Truth That Doesn’t Change
Even as churches around the world share the same good news of the risen Christ this weekend, everyone’s worship services and traditions will look a little different, and that’s a beautiful part of what it means to be the body of Christ. Different people groups, cultures, and traditions will find their own, unique ways to celebrate the reality of a risen Lord. Some of us may even feel a bit uncomfortable being plopped down in the Easter service of a church just down the road from our own, but that’s okay! The ways we celebrate Easter have changed over centuries and cultures of Christian tradition.
But, importantly, the gospel truth at the center hasn’t changed at all. Whether your church celebrates with shofar blasts or silent prayers, the foundation of our celebration is unchanging. The God of the universe became a man and died so that we don’t have to. Our job as pastors, church leaders, and volunteers this weekend is to bring the beauty of that gospel to the people in our communities, however it will be best received.
The Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of people so long as we are faithful to open our mouths and work with our hands so that the good news of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, is made known to all.
All Other Ground Is Sinking Sand
Of course, we’re all going into Easter weekend with carefully crafted plans and expectations that may or may not be realistic. But the reality is that whether the sermon lands or falls flat, whether a dozen or a thousand people show up, and whether our expectations prove to be a reality or a pipe dream, Christ has still risen, and Christ will still come again. When we close up the church sometime on Sunday, the gospel will still be true, and the only important measure for us will be whether or not we spoke and served like it is this weekend.
We cannot build our Easter weekend on anything but the beautiful, enduring good news of the risen Jesus. As we prepare our hearts for a weekend of Easter ministry, we should echo what Edward Mote wrote in his famous hymn “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”:
My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
May our hopes for Easter weekend be built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and righteousness.
