Circuit Thoughts

Easter is coming soon. In just a few weeks, four to be exact, we will be celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord. Already the candy is out, the decorations are up, the bunnies and the chicks are ready to be given as pets and winter will soon be a memory.

But, how often do we overlook the time before Easter? In some denominations, Lent is observed, the time of penance as we look to the cross. The cross is the key. You cannot have Easter unless there is a cross. You cannot have a resurrection unless there has been a death, and you cannot have salvation unless there is blood.

It seems, we have become a society that only wants to focus on the good stuff. We think we are entitled to always be happy, to always be well and to always succeed. If we are hurt or disappointed, that is someone else’s fault, and they are to blame. As I watch the news and hear the protests, I can’t help but wonder when we got such an entitled point of view. It is even more egregious when it happens in the church.

When a church stops preaching the cross and starts relying only on the gift and not the cost, we have lost the message. We have cheapened grace. If we do not share in the cross, Easter becomes a pagan spring celebration with no true promise or meaning.

Now, I am not advocating getting rid of the parties, or Easter egg hunts. What I am advocating is taking time to realize why Easter is so important. Starting in Matthew 26, we see the journey to Easter, and it starts with a meal and a prayer, leads to blood, sweat and tears, culminates on a cross and celebrates at a tomb.

Unless we are willing to go through all these phases with Christ, we can have no part with him. If we do not journey to the cross, we participate in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer would call “cheap grace” (if you want an excellent read on what grace truly is, I suggest his book, “The Cost of Discipleship”).

You see, if we call ourselves followers of Christ, we must be willing to pick up our own cross. We must be willing to follow Christ to the cross and we must be willing to trust in him and look forward to the resurrection.

My friends, this whole world is broken. Lately we have seen more despair, hatred and hopelessness than at anytime I can remember. It is almost as if our leaders and our heroes have given up and are now looking out for number one.

We have the answer and the means to fix this, and it is the cross. If we can be the followers Christ calls us to be, the world can be saved. If we can do what Christ calls us to do in Mark 8:34-38, then we will have something to truly celebrate. If we can deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Christ, the powers of the world will be defeated.

The only way to fix this thing is Christ.