Churches have come a long way. Onlookers rejoice instead of glaring if toddlers scurry or wail throughout a worship service. Spry 80-year-olds no longer perform lunging ankle grabs if visitors sneak out during the last hymn without having provided any contact information. You can even get your pick of the best of the 1990s “contemporary” Christian music or Billboard’s top hits from the 1790s to break up the boring, er, meaningful liturgies and sermons.
On a serious note, many churches around here no longer overtly oppress entire groups of people. But still the fact remains: if 90% of people attended church this Easter (or at least ate a chocolate bunny at precisely 11:04 a.m. on April 9th while streaming worship on their phone) that in and of itself would not make Easter happen.
Why? Easter is about more than chocolate and churchiness. The story of Jesus riding donkeys, getting killed, and coming back to life is the climax of a much larger story in which God constantly offers humankind abundant life. Easter isn’t about getting Jesus but realizing that Jesus has us in his loving hands. When humankind realizes they are already loved and feel empowered to deal with the world’s joys and problems instead of ignoring them, the world begins to heal. The resurrected (alive again) Jesus envisioned interconnected clumps of community where people would learn how to truly live.
Fr. Richard Rohr, using Ken Wilber’s terms, denotes four main tasks in life: “cleaning up, growing up, waking up and showing up.” If you’re looking for an imperfect but loving community with whom to grow … check out some churches near you. But, even if your community is a neighborhood or network of friends, consider this Easter as an invitation to explore one of these four things.
Clean Up: Our devotion goes to whatever we attend to the most. Humanity has always been tempted to give unhealthy devotion to things like food, drink, escapism, materialism, or other distractions when life feels overwhelming. Throughout antiquity and even today, many people fast leading up to Easter, as Jesus did early in his ministry. This isn’t about denying good stuff. It’s about not letting things master us, so we can enjoy even better stuff. Easter invites us to clean up our life, seeking help from a larger power, support groups, neighbors, churches, or others.
Grow Up: Even the “good” patterns and motivations we have adopted wear out their usefulness. Our way of doing things truly helped most of us through our teens, 20s and 30s … but it eventually feels a bit mechanical, tiresome & compulsive. We’ve been trying to help, succeed, stand out, remain secure … etc. … out of fear of what might happen if we don’t. Encountering Jesus after his death startled his closest disciples, and they slowly realized the rules of life had changed. Jesus hadn’t wanted them to become churchy, but free. The only way to do the right thing for the right reason is to truly take in the fact that we irrevocably are loved, secure and belong. Is it time to grow up to this truth? Different life experiences, relationships, and spiritual practices like reflection and solitude in nature can help.
Wake Up: Finally, the good stuff. When we feel valuable and loved, unquestionably, we wake up to the fact that heaven and earth are more connected than we ever imagined. This Easter could be your chance to notice these Easter-egg-like paradoxes and mysteries that are hidden in plain sight. Delight in the beautiful truth nestled within them.
Showing up: Showing up combines “getting out there” and “expressing yourself.” While all the other tasks in life help us to better show up … showing up can also inspire us to do the other tasks. April 16th marks 50 years since Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Rev. Shontea Smith (Mt. Sinai AME) will lead local pastors in reading and reflecting on what has changed in 50 years. Those who worked with King were taught to clean up, grow up and wake up so that only love and courage could be seen when they showed up.
But at the end of the day, King wished more of the absent Christians had just shown up and learned on their feet. Jesus showed up for people just as they were … empowering them before they were even close to being perfect. We don’t have to be perfect to solve the problems of the world. Often the first thing we need to do is show up. Earth Day is right after Easter, too. Again … we don’t have to be perfect, but we have the opportunity to show up in our lifestyles and policies to bless future generations.
So, church or not, don’t forget to show up this Easter!
The Rev. Evan Harrison is pastor of Pittsboro Presbyterian Church. Find out more about the church at https://pittsboropres.org/.