This past Easter season, there was much discussion among our family and friends about where they would be and what is acceptable for an Easter Sunday event schedule. It seems like everyone had an opinion and most of them were feeling quite strongly about their opinions. I on the other hand, was wavering on my opinion.
Here are some things that my friends or their families were dealing with this recent Easter Sunday.
-attending a professional baseball game
-a son playing in a basketball tournament
-a daughter playing in a volleyball tournament
-a child working at a local restaurant
-a husband needing to work
-a home full of family guests
-a day spent traveling to or from relatives festivities
-a day spent traveling to or from relatives festivities
With each new situation that friends shared advice and opinions came flooding in. "Easter is sacred" and "no game is important enough to play on Easter" and "Easter worship is the most important service of the year" and so fourth. It seemed a bit strange to me, because I don't remember these debates happening in years prior. I personally have never given much thought to what others are doing on Easter.
I do recall the commandment, "Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy." But, I think it is safe to say that the expectations with that command have certainly changed over the years. For example, if we continue to read in Exodus, chapter 31 tells us "those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people." Well, that leaves every pastor, organist, worship leader, Sunday school teacher, usher and worship technician "cut off" from the body of believers. I could be wrong, but it seems silly to me to declare that all church workers are now excluded from the body. This verse in Exodus says, "any work." Therefore, anyone who gardens, does house cleaning, washes their car, or any of those weekend chores we have come so accustomed to doing; seems to me that they are excluded from the body too.
To be completely honest with you, I think there are many people today that have actually started to put church and/or attending church in front of actually Worshipping God. In my opinion, they have made going to church as important or sometimes even more important than spending time developing their personal relationship with Christ. You know who I am talking about: they are the ones who seem to judge you when you are not in Sunday service, even though you were attending church at your Grandmother's church; the ones who complain every week about the songs, or scripture reading, because after all, the service is really about THEM, and what THEY need; and the ones whom seem to be at every service, every Bible study and every service event, yet seem to have NO JOY to share with others. Don't get me wrong, I know that attending Sunday worship, Bible study and serving others are all extremely important, but they are outward signs of a Faith that is bubbling out of us because the love we have for Christ and the love He has for us, is too large to contain. They are not things that can be FORCED on anyone.
Back to the Easter debate. This debate actually started for me my senior year in high school. I was an active member of our youth group, a Sunday school and VBS teacher, sang special music in church and rarely missed a Sunday worship service. However, when my mother decided that our family would be spending Easter Sunday at Estes Park instead of our home church, I faced negative consequences. You see, I was preparing to attend a Christian college the next fall and needed our pastor to sign some paper commenting on my church involvement in order to apply for some financial aid packages. He refused. He told me that he was concerned about people who missed church service at the height of the festival season. I honestly thought he was joking and laughed. But, he was serious. So I told him that he should be concerned about those who only attended at the height of the festival, and that I would get Vicar Ron to sign my papers. (which he did and I attended the college of my choice) It all worked out, but it is a situation that obviously left an impression.
So when the Easter debate returned to our own home this year, I was slow to make a judgement. What did I want our daughter to remember about this Easter? What did I want her to know? Where were my feelings coming from? Would we allow our daughter to be away from us on Easter? Tough, tough questions, or at least they were tough for me. :-)
I went to college to become a church worker, and although I am officially a stay-at-home mom now, I spent almost all of my working years as a church worker and will really always be a church worker at heart. Church workers see so many families with all of their joys and heartaches. I have seen youth decide to walk away from the Christ because of one fight with their parents over church. No matter what is going on in our children's lives, the number one priority for me is to help them spend eternity with Jesus. In my mind this Easter debate could have become our "one fight." So, I wanted to make sure that I thought long and hard about this Easter debate. Did I feel strongly enough either way to take a firm stand?
Well, not to spoil the ending, but we let our daughter go with her team and play in a National Qualifier this past Easter weekend. It was a tough decision. It was also tough fielding the criticism. The decision came down to a desire for our daughter to honor God no matter what she is doing. We want her being an disciple of Christ in school and out, in church and out, on the court and off. We want her to know that it is ok to Worship in an unfamiliar church that holds our same views of scripture. But, what really drove our decision is that we don't want her to feel guilty or shamed when she is grown and finds that she needs to work on Easter. (FYI, who do you think is making and serving all those Easter brunches that families attend.....people working on Easter) As she grows, there is a legitimate chance that she will need to work an Easter or two during college or as a young adult. She needs to know/test herself and her faith, and I would much rather her tackle these struggles under my care than when she is first starting to live on her own.
The great thing she and many of us need to remember is that more and more churches are now having services on Saturdays or during the week. There are Bible studies offered throughout our community on almost everyday of the week. Our own personal Bibles are available to us all day, everyday. Our faith and hers is something that we need to live out Everyday, Everywhere and to Everyone. Spending time in Worship needs to be a priority! The rigidness of when and where, in my opinion, needs to be left to personal conviction. What is most important is the fact that Christ died for all of us, and that He is Risen. He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!!
I do recall the commandment, "Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy." But, I think it is safe to say that the expectations with that command have certainly changed over the years. For example, if we continue to read in Exodus, chapter 31 tells us "those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people." Well, that leaves every pastor, organist, worship leader, Sunday school teacher, usher and worship technician "cut off" from the body of believers. I could be wrong, but it seems silly to me to declare that all church workers are now excluded from the body. This verse in Exodus says, "any work." Therefore, anyone who gardens, does house cleaning, washes their car, or any of those weekend chores we have come so accustomed to doing; seems to me that they are excluded from the body too.
To be completely honest with you, I think there are many people today that have actually started to put church and/or attending church in front of actually Worshipping God. In my opinion, they have made going to church as important or sometimes even more important than spending time developing their personal relationship with Christ. You know who I am talking about: they are the ones who seem to judge you when you are not in Sunday service, even though you were attending church at your Grandmother's church; the ones who complain every week about the songs, or scripture reading, because after all, the service is really about THEM, and what THEY need; and the ones whom seem to be at every service, every Bible study and every service event, yet seem to have NO JOY to share with others. Don't get me wrong, I know that attending Sunday worship, Bible study and serving others are all extremely important, but they are outward signs of a Faith that is bubbling out of us because the love we have for Christ and the love He has for us, is too large to contain. They are not things that can be FORCED on anyone.
Back to the Easter debate. This debate actually started for me my senior year in high school. I was an active member of our youth group, a Sunday school and VBS teacher, sang special music in church and rarely missed a Sunday worship service. However, when my mother decided that our family would be spending Easter Sunday at Estes Park instead of our home church, I faced negative consequences. You see, I was preparing to attend a Christian college the next fall and needed our pastor to sign some paper commenting on my church involvement in order to apply for some financial aid packages. He refused. He told me that he was concerned about people who missed church service at the height of the festival season. I honestly thought he was joking and laughed. But, he was serious. So I told him that he should be concerned about those who only attended at the height of the festival, and that I would get Vicar Ron to sign my papers. (which he did and I attended the college of my choice) It all worked out, but it is a situation that obviously left an impression.
So when the Easter debate returned to our own home this year, I was slow to make a judgement. What did I want our daughter to remember about this Easter? What did I want her to know? Where were my feelings coming from? Would we allow our daughter to be away from us on Easter? Tough, tough questions, or at least they were tough for me. :-)
I went to college to become a church worker, and although I am officially a stay-at-home mom now, I spent almost all of my working years as a church worker and will really always be a church worker at heart. Church workers see so many families with all of their joys and heartaches. I have seen youth decide to walk away from the Christ because of one fight with their parents over church. No matter what is going on in our children's lives, the number one priority for me is to help them spend eternity with Jesus. In my mind this Easter debate could have become our "one fight." So, I wanted to make sure that I thought long and hard about this Easter debate. Did I feel strongly enough either way to take a firm stand?
Well, not to spoil the ending, but we let our daughter go with her team and play in a National Qualifier this past Easter weekend. It was a tough decision. It was also tough fielding the criticism. The decision came down to a desire for our daughter to honor God no matter what she is doing. We want her being an disciple of Christ in school and out, in church and out, on the court and off. We want her to know that it is ok to Worship in an unfamiliar church that holds our same views of scripture. But, what really drove our decision is that we don't want her to feel guilty or shamed when she is grown and finds that she needs to work on Easter. (FYI, who do you think is making and serving all those Easter brunches that families attend.....people working on Easter) As she grows, there is a legitimate chance that she will need to work an Easter or two during college or as a young adult. She needs to know/test herself and her faith, and I would much rather her tackle these struggles under my care than when she is first starting to live on her own.
The great thing she and many of us need to remember is that more and more churches are now having services on Saturdays or during the week. There are Bible studies offered throughout our community on almost everyday of the week. Our own personal Bibles are available to us all day, everyday. Our faith and hers is something that we need to live out Everyday, Everywhere and to Everyone. Spending time in Worship needs to be a priority! The rigidness of when and where, in my opinion, needs to be left to personal conviction. What is most important is the fact that Christ died for all of us, and that He is Risen. He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!!
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