Easter Sunday isn’t about a full church.
It’s about an empty tomb.
For far too long the Church has been co-opted into the belief that more is better. We have been guiled into following the metrics of society in attempting to identify what has value, and that value is based on what is bigger. A close sibling of this way of measuring worth is the prosperity gospel: if you are blessed, you are rich.
I call…. poppycock.
Is it a wonderful thing on Easter morning to see the church filled with folks in their finery – new hats and spiffed up shoes? Is that morning made beautiful with lilies and trumpets and the congregation bellowing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today?”
Absolutely.
But that isn’t the goal of Easter, but the byproduct of the empty tomb.
It is helpful to remember that the One who occupied that tomb, who lives and reigns forever and ever, is the same One who told us: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Let this Easter not be about a full church.
Let it be full of compassion for the least of these: consider how you might reach out to those in need at this time of fear and dis-ease.
Let it be full of forgiveness: use this time of isolation to reach out to those who have wronged you, and those whom you have wronged. Find ways to forgive and to be forgiven.
Let it be full of justice and mercy: pay attention to those who are wronged by the systems that are in place and use what privilege you have to work toward justice. Write. Call. Connect with those who are making a difference.
Let it be full of hope.
The Quirky Calvin-isht 
One Comment
Once again reminding us that the church is not the building, it is the PEOPLE!!!!