In a couple of days, people will gather in churches, and even if they only do so once a year, many will be there on this Sunday. For this Sunday is Easter...it is Resurrection Sunday. The day we commemorate the Risen Savior!! He's alive!! Does it get any better than this? The rhetorical answer is a resounding "NO!".
Many churches will do something special to acknowledge the occasion. Lilies will be displayed perhaps...congregational music will be chosen accordingly...the choir's best pieces will be selected...and the message is likely to be from a passage that comes late in one of the gospels. I love the fact that all over the world, the peoples of the world are going to be recognizing Jesus' resurrection and proclaim His name.
But our church won't do any of that this Sunday...certainly not because we don't celebrate the Risen Savior...nor are we trying to diminish the moment in any way. It is not that we have missed the point or messed with the tradition...and we only feel a sense of joy that so many will be keeping vigil over this distinctive event of the stone being rolled away! With every hymn sung..every verse read...every shout of "Hallelujah!" we join those voices to proclaim the matchless name of Jesus.
It is just that we long for this be our endeavor every single Sunday of every single week throughout the year. In other words, on April 11th (the Sunday after "Resurrection Sunday") we still crave to lift our voices...we long for them to be clear and desire that our minds are focused with just as much fervor as the previous week. Let our shouts be loud and "Hallelujah's" drip from our tongues like honey! So that a watching world will know that this is not just a tradition that we keep. It is a life that we live...a life that moves and has it's being only because He is risen...indeed!
I understand the celebration of Christmas once a year, because we are celebrating a birthday...the birth of our Savior...His advent. Wow! It is a momentous occasion. Easter is different. For without the lifeless tomb, I am left with a lifeless heart. If the cross is hopeless, then so am I...and if there is no victory over death, there is no reason to gather every Sunday...but there is victory! And I want to shout with all I have...all I am...every single week.
So, of course let Sunday be a day that you shout His praises...do not contain yourself...get undignified people! HE IS RISEN...we are alive because we are alive in Him...that gives us a reason to shout together. And after we have shouted, let's keep it up... all year long!