I have a growing conviction that Easter is more important than Christmas. It seems wrong to actually say that, but let me back up my statement with a couple of observations.
First, from scriptures: Did you know that while only two of the Gospels talks about the details of Jesus’ birth, yet all of the Gospels give details about His trial, death, and resurrection. In fact, those details make up an amazing amount of the Gospel records. Next, from Church history: The early church didn’t begin to celebrate the birth of Jesus until the 4th century. Early Christians always commemorated the death of Jesus and quickly added in the celebration of His resurrection day as well. Finally, from cultural observations, at least in the church world: Easter attendance far surpasses Christmas attendance.
I’ve tried to make sense of this data, especially the last point, because by viewing our culture it’s easy to see that Christmas is a big deal. One conclusion I’ve come to is that Christmas IS a big deal, but it’s not always a big deal about JESUS. Christmas has been co-oped by lots of other “good” things like the spirit of gift giving, family time, and Santa Claus. Easter is trickier. The whole bunny and egg thing isn’t as satisfying. Easter, though certainly filled with pagan influence, doesn’t make sense without focusing on Jesus. And so people that’s who people focus on.
It’s the one time of year when people who don’t normally come to church really do come to church. Which is wonderful because they get to hear the best part of the message: Jesus won. He beat death. He did it all. He paid the price for all our sins.
So what difference does all this make? Because I have this conviction that Easter is more important than Christmas, I’m realizing as a Christian this should influence how I participate in Easter. See, Easter isn’t really about me – I’ve already got the message. Of course, I’m grateful and it’s a family holiday. But it’s also the most evangelistic day of the year. That should be a big deal to me as a believer! This is the day of the year when people are going to give Jesus a shot to make a difference.
As a church family, we’ve asked you to see Easter as an opportunity to serve others.
Serve those who don’t yet know Jesus by inviting them to come hear the message. Chances are good that they will say, “yes” – remember, Jesus makes sense at Easter time.
Serve those who don’t yet know Jesus by attending a different service. Most people want to attend an Easter service on Sunday. It’s traditional. If you are not bringing someone, serve others by attending a service on Saturday or attending one of our video venues. Remember you’ve already got the message, so you know what it means to serve others.
Finally, serve those who don’t yet know Jesus by actually SERVING them. You are the church. Use your time and talent to make an impact on those who only give Jesus a shot once per year. Since it’s the most attended service time of the year, we need more people serving than ever. You have the opportunity to make an eternal difference in someone’s life!
