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ChurchMag / Church Culture / Reflecting On An Unusual Easter

Reflecting On An Unusual Easter

Reflecting On An Unusual Easter

April 13, 2020
by Blessing Mpofu

2020 started with some corny Vision Sunday message titles. Not your church of course but others. Can I say that? 🙊🙈 Then after taking a peek what was happening in Asia, we touted the possible of churches not being able to gather ‘IRL’. While that was becoming a debate some cities and countries went into lockdown. In an instant the way we (mostly) ‘do church’ was shook. This brought us to an unusual Easter. Taking all this into account I offer some reflections from an unusual Easter. 

In reality, it is only one aspect of church life that was shook. And, with that we’re learning that we’ve centred a lot of church life around that one aspect: gathering. Finding out what is happening in people’s lives, happens mostly when we see them. Most of mobilising people to live out their faith has been done from gatherings. And the list goes on. 

How Churches Have Responded 

Churches’ response to shelter in place orders, has in a general, been encouraging. Because this is anecdotal, my observations are subjective. Many churches have gone on to stream their worship experiences and preaching. 

As before, I’d like to emphasise that this doesn’t mean that your church is ‘sorted’. Content and streaming aspects of church life isn’t, in essence, church. It is a small aspect of it. 

We’ve done a few COVID-19 related posts and podcasts. For the purposes of this post also check out:

  • Church Online Or Online Church Is More Than Streaming
  • Church Using Technology During Coronavirus (COVID-19) [Podcast #301]
  • COVID Reveals What Your Church Is About [Podcast #302]

Sorry-not-sorry for rabbit trailing. 

Besides streaming, who would’ve thought drive-in service could be a thing, but it was for some. Some churches have curated existing resources for family worship. 

While doing the above I saw some churches take action in their communities. Some inspired and challenged members to serve their neighbours in a practical way. Others helped provide food and shelter to the homeless. 

Some churches have adapted well and others not so much. Some churches have felt ill-equipped to adapt. Because they didn’t have resources to stream, they felt they couldn’t be effective. (I hope this helps someone: remember church is more than a live stream.)

Responses have varied. 

The Weird And / Unusual Easter

The (initial) responses of churches to the COVID-19 had a bearing on how some ‘celebrated’ Easter. The buzz at the moment is streaming. This is good, only to a small extent and the very short term. So the churches with streams streamed versions of their Easter experience. 

Easter was curtailed, not cancelled. It was simplified, not stopped.
You can't cancel the resurrection because it already happened and it split history into BC and AD.

— Rick Warren (@RickWarren) April 13, 2020

I saw many pastors share behind the scenes photos of them preaching to empty pews. Others shared their makeshift home studios and rigs. 

Who would’ve thought soundproofing, lighting and recording skills would be skills needed by worship leaders and pastors. I mean them doing it themselves, that is. We must tip our hats to pastors who’ve been making happen with limited resources. 

Virtual Easter egg hunts like this one seem to raise the ante of egg hunts. I hope there aren’t children’s pastors feeling like failures in the absence of a virtual egg hunt. 

The Take-aways From This Unusual Easter

I found this Easter a minimal, muted one. Muted in that it didn’t have the Easter pomp, we were becoming accustomed to. Despite that it was one of the weightier ones because there were less lights to distract. How important is the kids egg hunt? Despite many people online, there were fewer Easter family cards than usual. 

View this post on Instagram

⁣ You know what happened immediately after resurrection Sunday? One of the followers doubted it all. ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Which if we’re honest, don’t we all feel that way today? One day removed from all the easter hub bub and we still find ourselves in pretty much the same place we did last week. “Did it really happen?” is a good question. “Is it happening now?” is a better one.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Thomas wasn’t the only one that doubted, but he got his doubts canonized. So I present to you the icon of the Sacred Doubting Finger…. because all our doubting fingers are sacred.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Our sacred doubting fingers help us enter into the paradox of life. They help us touch the death of what we’ve known and the birth of something new. ⁣ ⁣ Dr. Kurt Thompson in his book The Soul of Shame explains that in our brains we experience doubt as a sensation of a relational disconnection. It’s not necessarily a “these facts don’t make sense” issue… it has more to do with a feeling of relational distrust. Doubt is that embodied ache when you thought you knew what this was… but you’re not sure anymore. ⁣ ⁣ Doubt is a failure of an inner image. The image of you being let in on all the secrets of everything, on being on the Team that has the script, of your future plans happening the way you thought they would…⁣ ⁣ Friends… at least once a day I think “this is all just made up”… and it probably is. But I do know this… your doubt is not something you need to solve. The Divine will deal with it. What IS UP TO YOU is are you going to put your Sacred Doubting Finger into the wound you are presented with? ⁣ ⁣ If you get a physical Jesus, please call me. I’d like to come over. But most of us are not going to get that. What we will get throughout our lives is a series of other wounds we must bring our unknowing to. ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ It usually starts with our own wounds. Because to bring your Sacred Doubting Finger to your own wounds is to ask the Divine “Are you involved in my life at all?” Then we will encounter the wounds of those we love, and ask “are You here too?” Friends, strangers, every wound in the world begs the same question…. IS NEWNESS POSSIBLE?⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Here are my wounds. Put your finger into them….⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #doubtingthomas

A post shared by Scott Erickson (@scottthepainter) on Apr 13, 2020 at 6:25am PDT

It may be that some of us got to discover that our church has been losing sight of. I pray many Christ followers got to (re)focus on the profound message of Easter. That there were less distractions for them to sit in sober, unencumbered reflection. 

View this post on Instagram

Today…. I’m grateful churches are closed. ⁣ ⁣ Don’t get me wrong. I miss gathering too. ⁣ I believe in ritual. I think ceremony is transformational.⁣ I support my friends who are professional hosts as well.⁣ I strive to be a faithful curator at my events. I very much see my performance work as a creative ceremony curate. So hear me… I miss the gathering deeply.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ But what I’m grateful for is that in this moment we can’t put our trust in the gathering, the ceremony, or even the charismatic talents of a good host….⁣ ⁣ but we are forced to trust the doorway to God’s presence that is found in our very own incarnation. ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Having been a former church worker, so much is put on the Easter service. I appreciate the music, the pageantry, the preaching. But… and it’s a crude way to say it, it’s also the biggest pitch day the church has. It’s the “Big Show” to convince potential clients why this church/belief system/religious membership is the solution to all your problems. What we put our faith in is our ability to put on a good show. We inflate the mechanics over the essence of the resurrection invitation.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ According to the gospels, resurrection morning happened to a small few in very mysterious and quiet ways. And surprisingly, that’s exactly where we’re all at too…⁣ ⁣ Out on an early morning walk tending to our pain.⁣ ⁣ Holed up in a house in fear and anxiety about the future.⁣ ⁣ Leaving town in despair because nothing worked out the way we thought it would.⁣ ⁣ Grieving the loss of a hope we once had.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ “Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?” was asked then and is still being asked today. Not in the glitz and glamour religious ceremony. It’s coming to us in the quiet soft animal of our blessed being.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Maybe the resurrection gift we can give one another after social distancing is the trust we found in our interaction with Jesus at our own gravesites, roadways, locked rooms, and morning strolls?⁣ ⁣ Maybe the gift we can give in our anticipated reunion is the confident witness of the resurrected Christ in our own quiet lives? ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ “Christ is risen,” they say.⁣ ⁣ And with intimacy, we respond,⁣ “He is risen indeed.”⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣

A post shared by Scott Erickson (@scottthepainter) on Apr 12, 2020 at 7:50am PDT

My hope is that we got to focus on what was important. With that I hope we remembered that the significance of Easter transcends festivities. 

What were / are your takeaways from this unusual Easter? What do you think it means for Christ followers and churches going forward?

Blessing Mpofu

Editor In Chief

just a guy changing the world. husband to Ingrid. growing leader and communicator.

Category: Church Culture, Church Life Tagged: easter

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