Paying Attention to the Crowd You Won’t See This Sunday

In the busy time of Easter week, I took a moment to sit back and listen to some music. I was drawn to a song by one of my favorite bands from the 90’s, INXS (Yes, I do listen to things other than Amazing Grace). One of their songs, The Stairs, speaks of how we all exist each day without really thinking about each other. A section of lyrics are, “Listened to by the walls, we share the same spaces, repeated in the corridors, performing the same movements. The nature of your tragedy is chained around your neck. Do you lead or are you led? Are you sure that you don't care? There are reasons here to give your life and follow in your way. The passion lives to keep your faith though all are different all are great. Climbing as we fall, we dare to hold on to our fate and steal away our destiny, to catch ourselves with quiet grace… we pass each other on the stairs.”
I think that these words speak to the human tendency to exist each day without really paying attention to the world around us. I think this song touches on the universal importance of seeing other people as… people just like… you and me.
It can be hard to value one another. Different ideas, different views, different political and economic situations make it is easy to overlook others who are not like us. While we live in an age of vast communication, internet, cell phones, (even my children text each other on their Nintendo game player), yet we are ever more isolated in a world of cyberspace. Real relationships are becoming less meaningful. It has gotten more and more difficult to know each other. Bible teacher Beth Moore commented that she finally realized how much time she spends emailing people she never even sees, yet ignores those people she sees everyday spending little or no time at all with them. Do you see people each day and yet really ignore them?
Yes, there are reasons here to give your life. Christians are called to rethink their lives. Once you become a Christian, then… suddenly… it’s not all about you and your needs. Life becomes something that is given away to those people that we pass on the stairs, or in the streets, or wherever you might go. The gospel of John 15:13 states “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” The Church that is only concerned about itself will not continue to thrive. The Church must teach its members to be passionately active in seeking to introduce Christ to others. Such churches work hard to make people who are “un-churched” feel welcome and provide a message in a context that is meaningful. Thus, today we live in a world where the people we pass each day generally live in the bondage of life without Jesus. Should we try to do anything about it or simply walk on by without thinking twice, too scared to speak and too afraid of failure? Jesus lived, died, and rose from the grave so that you and I can, through faith in Him, live with Him forever. That is “Good News!” That’s what Easter is all about.-not rabbits or eggs or baskets or lilies or pretty white outfits. Easter is about a God who refuses to let us remain in our bondage. Easter is about the passion of God that burns to reclaim us from sin and death. Easter is about once we know Jesus, we live to spread the news to those who are yet to meet Jesus. And in all of this, we might find our destiny (purpose) and live lives in the light of God’s grace.

Lest We Forget Jesus’ Journey

Here are some questions to ponder this Easter Holy Week. Did the Son of God give up his Father to become human? Did Jesus step out of the circle of relationship with the Father and Holy Spirit when He was born in the stable? The answers to these questions are all “of course not.” In Jesus, the relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is lived out in a divine-human existence. Don’t fly past the importance of the Incarnation of Jesus as a human being in solving the problem of our estrangement from God. Thus the cross of Jesus is not the solution to sin, it is the answer to the God forged relationship with humanity. The cross can overshadow the birth, life, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
Think of the situation when people are trapped in a burning building. The firemen may spray water on the blaze, but it is likely that they will have to attempt a rescue by actually entering into the burning building. Turn the scenario around, if the firemen never come out of the building then they too are lost. Today the firemen stay in contact with other firemen outside of the blaze and keep them apprised of the situation.
Theologian T. F. Torrance make this statement, “perhaps the most fundamental truth which we have to learn in the Christian Church, or rather relearn since we have suppressed it, is that the Incarnation (the life of Jesus) was the coming of God to save us in the heart of our fallen and depraved humanity… the Incarnation is the coming of God to take upon himself our fallen nature, our actual human existence laden with sin and guilt, and our diseased mind and soul in its alienation from the Creator.”
The same is true with Jesus. Jesus entered into our world in a rescue effort that would not be stopped. Jesus never lost contact with his Father and the Holy Spirit. The rescue attempt was painful and it looked as if Satan was going to be able to have the last word… but… then again, death was not the last word was it? In Adam and Eve, humanity was fallen, lost, and bound for death. In Jesus, He is the new Adam, the true human and the bonds of sin and death have no hold upon Him. He is the living atonement for all of humanity and we witness a God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) willing to die to bring us into a right relationship with Him. Was it because we deserved it? No, it was only by God’s choosing… His grace that enables us to join Him in the resurrection. John 11:26 says, “whoever lives and believes in me will never die!” I pray that you have a meaningful Holy Week and that you know that God loves you enough to give His life for you.