My God, my God….! Out of all the Christian liturgical observances, Easter is of primary importance on my list. Throughout the year, if Easter is over, I feel like the year has passed in terms of my pastor’s heavy-duty responsibilities. The holy burden of observing the Lenten season with utmost care is something I personally anticipate with careful preparation to be with Christ and walk with him on his journey to Crucifixion, which is an essential path to the Resurrection.
During the Holy Week, I have to prepare three sermons: one for Good Friday night, one for the Sunrise service, and one for the Easter Sunday worship service. The culmination of observing the Lenten season for me is that from Maundy Thursday morning to Resurrection morning, I stay at church, praying, fasting, and meditating on Christ’s suffering, except for washing and changing clothes at home. Preparing sermons in between is exhausting, let alone preaching twice with different sermons on Easter Sunday. But during this time, I feel God, His presence most intimately, experiencing God’s strength pouring upon my weak body at the dawn of Easter morning; by this time, usually, I feel I have no strength left to do anything, not even to walk, but when I am to preach, I am full of energy. No one would know that I had spent three days and nights at church being with God. I would never exchange anything for such an extraordinary God-moment and the joy of participating in the first Easter.
I am sharing how I spent Holy Week, not to show off or boast (God forbid!) but to share the importance of reenacting the first Easter in our spiritual growth. It is mandatory to reenact the first Easter (Christmas, Pentecost, etc.) for Christians. Without the reenactment of the essential religious observances, we miss the whole point and become powerless and listless Christians. However, sadly enough, not many churches know the importance of observing liturgical observances seriously. I still remember the disappointment and frustration I felt in my first year in the mission field on Easter Sunday. I was away from home and my family. I did not have friends. I was a stranger in a strange land teaching students from the Asia Pacific Region. As the first Easter in that mission field was approaching, I wanted it to be a special moment of feeling God’s presence and assurance of His love in my being a rooky missionary. I fasted dinner during the Lenten season, being careful about what and how I said things to people and meditating on Christ’s suffering. I prepared thoroughly on my part to participate in the joy of resurrection; I even clipped my nails on the night before. I woke up at two on Easter morning, quietly praying and waiting for the resurrection moment with full expectation. I attended the Sunrise service at the local church with thumping anticipation, only to be fatally disappointed and frustrated. I still remember the shock I felt that morning! Instead of singing triumphant Resurrection hymns on Easter morning, they sang songs of Good Friday service such as “At the Cross,” “Old Rugged Cross,” and then Easter hymn. I am not saying those songs should be sung only on specially designated Sundays. Still, it was obvious that they did not have Good Friday service, not to mention Maundy Thursday, so they felt compelled to sing crucifixion hymns on Easter morning. It was the Sunrise service, and during the service, they showed some videos totally unrelated to the resurrection of Christ. I cried out of disappointment; I felt that all my preparation to participate in the first Easter was a fiasco.
Without the crucifixion, there is no resurrection, literally and spiritually. We are to reenact the crucifixion and the resurrection in the best way possible to participate fully in the joy of resurrection. They are not to be remembered; they are to be participated. Without reenactment, we cannot possibly participate in the joy of liberation from the dead. Without death, not resurrection. That is why I am firmly against our church posting a sign that reads, “Christ is Risen” on our signage before Easter. I want Kristy to be Mary Magdalene, announcing the resurrection news to the world for the first time by reenacting it. Without experiencing the power of the
Resurrection, we cannot be powerful Christians. I wish our people knew the importance of communal worship, observing at least Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Sunrise, and Easter service to renew the spiritual power embedded in each service. Amen!