The worst preaching of the church occurs during its biggest holidays.
On Easter 2020, in the heart of the Pandemic lockdown, my family did what most families of faith did that year—we streamed a virtual sermon. First, we tuned in to OUR church. The pastor of OUR church was ‘preaching’ an argument for why the resurrection MUST have happened. I had heard this kind of sermon before, and afterward it did not leave me saying, “did not our hearts BURN within us…?” We logged off just as easily as we’d logged in. We dialed up ANOTHER sermon, from ANOTHER church. Oddly, it was the SAME sermon! It was the same argument for the historicity of the resurrection. We logged off again, and again before hearing the argument through. We dialed up a third church and it was the SAME sermon. We shut off the television, and my oldest daughter, home from college because her campus had shut down like all the others said, “Can we read the book of Ruth? I’ve always wanted to read the book of Ruth.” That was our Easter that year - empty of a sermon, but full of Jesus.
Preaching is hard work. I’ve done it. Preaching at holidays is even harder, because all in attendance want a home run. A grand slam. A haymaker. And at the end of a holiday season, preachers are worn out, running on fumes. But…as a worshiper and listener, I don’t care about the historicity of the resurrection, and I don’t think any skeptic dragged into a church on Easter cares about it, either. Not one. I think we are all there hoping to hear, “assuming it’s true, so what?! What does it mean? What does it change?!” And that’s what preachers in recent generations have stopped wanting to talk about.
But you don’t have to follow suit. No matter what anyone else says this Easter, YOU can talk with your family about what it means. You can rejoice over it together. You can pray through it together. You can sing it together. The simple move to have powerful family worship during Lent, and Holy Week, and Easter is…don’t get hung up in the facts of the story. The facts are important. The facts and details TELL the story, but they don’t tell the WHOLE of it. Don’t SKIP the facts, but don’t STOP at the facts, either. The gospel message of the cross is not that Jesus was crucified. LOTS of people were crucified. The gospel is, Jesus was crucified for my sins, so that thing I still feel guilty for has been kissed away. The gospel of the resurrection isn’t that Jesus rose. There have been others who have been raised—Lazarus, Eutychus. But Jesus rose eternally to give me life and lead me by the hand away from dead things that pretend to be life-giving.
The secret to POWERFUL family worship this holiday is, start by noticing the FACTS of the text, but move quickly to the POWER of the text. Move to the gospel by asking, “How exactly is Jesus saving us here?” If you need some assistance in doing that, check out Camel + Needle’s The KING of UN-RUIN.
And I am praying for your pastor this Holy Week and Easter.
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