The New Creation Has Come

I spent much of my childhood skeptical about Easter. I of course enjoyed the fanfare of egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, fancy clothes, and a church service crowded with Easter lilies, but I struggled with some of the elements that other kids seemed to so comfortably accept: adults dressed in oversized rabbit costumes, baby chicks and bunnies emerging from eggs, an Easter bunny tale that seemed to mimic Santa Claus.

I adored the beauty of classic stories like The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, but I could never equate the magic of the Easter bunny with the majesty of the resurrected Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. What did Cadbury Eggs have to do with Jesus? What did an Easter Sunday church service have to do with baskets of candy and egg salad sandwiches? We hunted for dyed hard-boiled eggs in those days -- plastic prize-filled treats were a rarity -- so what did it mean that we invariably smelled a forgotten Easter egg behind the living room couch months later?

The word that somehow escaped my youthful attempts to connect secular and spiritual was this: new. The chicks, bunnies, eggs, lilies, and baskets of plastic grass all pointed towards spring and new growth. And in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are made new, freed to walk with the Holy Spirit in the promises of the Gospel.

While the morphing together of secular celebrations and religious high holidays is undeniably complex, surely what we can lean into here is the hope of what is new -- tulips and daffodils, baby animals and eggs, and -- best of all -- our new lives once we have committed to the promises of Jesus Christ. Hear Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Do you remember Jesus' rebuke of the Church in Sardis in Revelation 3? He told them that their willingness to compromise with the culture around them and their reliance on reputation had left them lethargic; they were as good as asleep, and Jesus told them to wake up, remember what they had been taught, and strengthen what remained. He told them to wake up and try something new or he would come like a thief in the night.

Our challenge the week of February 28 was to try something new, stepping out of the lethargy of comfort and routine to attempt something we have never done before. It might be as minor as a new challenge at work or as big as a new instrument, language, or sport. What can you do to ensure that you are on the alert, ready for God's new plans for your life rather than lulled into the complacency of yet another day at home as we wait for the pandemic to abate? As you ponder what Easter-inspired new challenge you can bring into your life, watch this three-minute TED Talk titled "Try Something New for 30 Days."

As so many of us have been reminded by the gravity of the pandemic, life is short and our time to enjoy one another is precious. So what will we do, both as individuals and as a church, to ensure that we are alert, energetic, and hope-filled? Are you ready to step onto a new God path for 30 days ... and then another 30 days, and another 30 days, and another 30 days? God calls us to compassion, not complacency; He desires for us to be on the alert rather than lethargic and dull, especially in a time when our calendars have been cleared. What new Easter blessings will you discover this month?

Blessings on you as we anticipate Easter Sunday together,

Jennie