The Day After Easter

The seasonal candy is on sale for half price. Bunnies and colorful eggs have suddenly fallen out of fashion. The seasonal church attendees are back home or back to work, but won't be back to church until December. It's the day after Easter.

For many, Easter is just another holiday…a good one, a happy one. Certainly it is packaged with less stress and hype than Christmas. Santa and sleigh bells somehow made it much bigger than rabbits (who don't even lay eggs, by the way.) Easter is quicker, simpler, cleaner. A few hours--one day max--in and out, nice and quick.

Meanwhile, in the evangelical churches across America, we rush on to the next thing…the sermon series we interrupted for Easter, or the spring programming we do before losing momentum over the summer.

I've been intrigued to discover that not every church does this. In some church traditions, Easter is a six week event. "The Second Sunday of Easter" through "The Sixth Sunday of Easter," each week is labeled. I never heard of such a thing.

Every once in while at Christmas time, you'll hear some sappy song or nostalgic pastor claim that we should have "Christmas all year long." Please, no! The music and the lights are fun for a season, but I think it is long enough the way it is. Could we really handle "Jingle Bells" in July? Not me!

Besides, Jesus didn't stay a baby. He grew out of that manger and took some of his earliest steps with Egyptian sand between his toes. Christmas is a fantastic holiday, worthy of our celebration, but it's sufficient that it only comes once a year.

Easter on the other hand is different. We are an Easter people. We are people of the resurrection. The resurrection state of Jesus wasn't just a passing experience, but his permanent existence. We serve a living, risen Savior. He is very much alive.

So, I like what M. Craig Barnes teaches, "Easter can't have an ending. It is not about what is finished but about what has just begun--a future that is so mysterious only God could write it."

I'm not calling for a change in the way we do church in the evangelical world (not today anyway), nor advocating that you keep the chocolate bunnies around until they turn white. However, I am challenging us on this day after Easter, to not rush off too quickly.

Please join me today in celebrating with John Chrysostom, a preacher from the fourth century who rejoiced,

O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
Christ is risen, and you are cast down.
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen.
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.
Christ is risen, and life reigns in freedom.
Christ is risen, and the grave is emptied of the dead.

We are people of the resurrection. We are an Easter people. That doesn't end, just because the candy is on sale.