Christ on Clearance
I love to joke around with our worship team, so when I sent out our worship plans last week (for the Sunday after Easter), I said “chocolate bunnies may be half-price, but not us!”
Brought back a memory. A few years back, my husband and I stopped at one of the “Wal’s” for something …. I don’t remember what … right after worship on Easter. The Cadbury eggs were already marked down … waaaaaay down; the same Cadbury eggs that went on the shelf on or before February 15 when the Valentine candy went on clearance. So naturally we had to load up.
Twas this bit of comedic fun with the worship team and bittersweet memory of an Easter past that almost caused me to choke on my half-price Peeps. Easter. On Clearance. Dear God do we do that? Do we take the joy, the deep meaning, and the transformative power of the resurrection, and by mid-afternoon on Easter Sunday already have cleared it away to get ready for the next (fill in the blank)? Are we saying “Christ is Risen” at sunrise, and “Christ is on clearance” at sunset … as we begin planning where we are going on vacation this summer??
As human beings we’re “hard wired” to seek novelty … the new … the next. It is part of our human nature. Yet, we also have that need for safeness, value, belonging, and identity. One is satisfied, temporarily, in the things of the world. The other is satisfied, permanently, in the ways of God. Our need for novelty means we’re always searching, and never completely satisfied. When we place our identity in God, in the ways of God, in the ways of God’s kingdom, our search then becomes what God has for us next … that which has meaning and purpose. That which grows us in spiritual maturity. It is a process that never ends, but always satisfies. Yet, ironically it leaves us always hungering for more … more of the ways of God.
So, consider the things of that which we call Easter; chocolate eggs, which go on clearance on Easter afternoon and are soon forsaken for the next new thing. And, the resurrection … the meaning and deep joy of which is eternal and life shaping. Can we have both? You better believe it, as long as we can separate out the fact that Easter is not a one-time, temporary event that we put on clearance and toss out as valueless the next day. Easter is a life of resurrection – of transformation – of growth. It is a life of meaning and purpose.
I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll load up!