Everyone had been asking the same question, “How will we celebrate Easter 2020?”
Turns out… it was… unusual. Right?
But Easter 2020 still happened. And it was good, friends.
Social distancing couldn’t keep the people of God from calling out to each other, “Jesus is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!” It was via social media, Zoom, Facetime, texting and in the comments section during online worship. But it happened.
We were separated but still connected.
We were barred from our buildings but still enjoying Christian community.
Christian community.
Not how we’re used to it, but in the way the Father gave it to be done for Easter 2020. Thanks be to Him!
Some say this kind of “community” doesn’t count. But their reasoning sounds more like an ad hoc philosophy, made up as they go along, rather than anything from Scripture.
We didn’t have our buildings but we had each other. We didn’t have our gatherings, but we had Jesus. Some experienced this Christian community online, some via drive-in, some in their homes and others with their neighbors… practicing social distancing, of course. How? Jesus.
From Oregon, I got this report: “I take your message to heart, doing neighborhood ministry… I gathered my nerve and went for it. I invited the neighbors to gather for Easter church across the fence. We sang, read the Bible, had a children’s message, prayed and sang some more. When we were done the neighbors said, ‘This is the perfect Easter.’ They decided we should do church across the fence every Sunday until our churches open again. What a blessing! This is how neighbors do church in Oregon.”
From Indianapolis: “We decided to organize a neighborhood morning service - keeping an appropriate social distance, of course. We prayed, sang a few songs, shared communion and celebrated Jesus. As one neighbor mentioned, there were no denominations, no labels, no positions, no political parties - only children of God celebrating Jesus! It was simple and sweet and just what we needed this morning. Thankful for this sweet, sweet time.”
You get the idea. Jesus was on the loose. Christian community was happening. And the grace of Jesus S-P-R-E-A-D!
So, here’s the next question: Now, what? Easter 2020 happened. We celebrated. We received. We connected. Now, what? Do we call it a day and pack it in until 2021 (when we can, hopefully, go back to normal)?
Or do we learn what the Father was giving us the opportunity to learn?
Ephesians 1:18-20 gives us the answer, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which [the Father] has called you… and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead…”
Whether your knew it or not, you have within you the incomparably great power at work, which the Father exerted to raise Jesus from the dead… to raise Jesus from the dead… the power the Father exerted to raise Jesus from the dead.
What will you do with it? Now that the Father has used 2020 to force us to think outside the box, what have you learned about His power and what’s your next step? How will you release the power of the resurrection which has come to you through faith? How will you offer the simple power of His love to others? Don’t think BIG, think simple, think small. This incomparably great power is already in you. From the Father, to you, through you, to the people around you who need it so badly.
It is a real power. It is really released to others through love. And it is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
What will you DO?
No fooling. Easter 2020 has happened. Now, what?