Easter, and bold preaching

There were eleven disciples after the resurrection, cowards all. Discounting Judas, whom we dealt with on Thursday, we had a group of eleven who weren't much good at much. You see, they were dealing with a fairly hostile world. Sure, when they were all together behind closed doors, it was super easy to be brave, as it always is. Look at Peter's words when he was mustering up courage, standing alongside Jesus Christ as he was.

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you,

that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed

for you that your faith might not fail. And when

you have have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

Peter said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to

prison and to death."

Luke 22:31-33

Where did this happen? In the room where the Lord's supper was instituted. Peter, talking this big talk, was surrounded by a group of people who completely agreed with him, and Jesus who must have seemed unstoppable at that time. It's easy, as Peter found out, to talk a really good game, just as long as you're surrounded by friends and well-wishers. But it gets much more difficult when you're surrounded by people who actually and absolutely don't agree with you.

Now, we're Canadians. Canadian Christians, living in the real world, where there are real world consequences surrounding confessing a belief in Christ. Real world dangerous consequences. Consequences like.....

Mild disapproval.

Belittling conversations.

Temporary loss of friendship.

Withering awkwardness.

You know, that stuff. Given those weighty consequences, I can see why we wouldn't be all that interested in talking to people about Jesus. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? No wonder Peter and the disciples all took off, because there was a very real possibility that people might laugh at them.

Oh, wait. That's not what happened at all. The consequences were much much greater for the disciples than they are for us. When was the last time you were in so much trouble with other people due to your Christianity, that you had to run away from the situation totally naked?

A young man followed him, with nothing but a linen

cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the

linen cloth and ran away naked.

Mark 14:51-52

Yeah, probably never. Never has this happened to you. But this isn't a post all about how the odds against the witness of the disciples was big, and against you they're small. No, this is about something else. This is all about how we as Christians really need to start acting like we believe what we believe. Is Jesus the way, the truth and the life? Is he the key to resurrection of the body and the life everlasting? If not, then no big deal. But if he is, then this isn't question of mild embarrassment, this is a question of everything, life, death, and eternity. The disciples, before the resurrection, they acted like us. People who are callow and weak willed. They were lenten people, denying Jesus, running away naked, betraying Christ, vanishing into the darkness. Lenten people. people like us. Frightened and weak willed.

But this is Easter. Easter when we have new confidence, new strength, new will, new enthusiasm. It's when we ask ourselves what we believe in, when we ask ourselves what our faith means, what it's worth. The price of living like easter people probably isn't going to be us being nailed to a cross, stoned, beheaded, or stabbed. It might be one of the issues above. But is it worth it? Is eternity and life and death worth it? Well, that's up to you, the individual Christian.

Blessed Easter to you. May the resurrection inspire in you a renewed confidence and strength of resolve not even possible through earthly things. Be courageous and determined in your beliefs, and be as wise as serpents, and gentle as doves.

PJ.

Palm Sunday Wedding March

Yes, folks, it was Palm Sunday last Sunday. And what a Sunday it was. Now, as you may have noticed, you who were there, that I spoke at length about confirmation being compared with a marriage. And the longer I think about it, the better a comparison it is. Not just are you in front of everyone in church, wearing a white dress, making vows, but also something else happens.

Your vows that you make are vows that you make until death. That is some seriousness. When else do you make vows until death? Like, never, that's when. You only vow lifelong commitment to your spouse, and to God. But what does it mean to be faithful until death? Oh sure, you may think that it means one thing - you think that it means that you will be faitful to your spouse, to remain married to them, until death does you part. But that can, and does, lead to its own set of problems. If you have the idea that your marriage is just a matter of remaining technically in the marriage, then you have a different idea of your level of commitment.

It's the same with the perception of confirmation, and church membership. We have some pretty serious things to say about your church membership. We drag thirteen-year-olds out in front of everyone in the congregation, and have them swear lifelong alleigence to their church, and to God Almighty. But what does it mean to have a lifelong commitment, what does it mean to not have anything but death divide you from this congregation? Is it as simple as imagining someone putting a gun to your head and threatening to pull the trigger if you admit your Christianity? It's a common enough scenario in our heads, but it's not exactly likely in Saskatchewan, is it? Who's gonna run up to you and threated to murder you over your Christianity? More than likely nobody. But something else will happen, something else that we don't necessarily consider as part of the issue.

It's a life or death issue, absolutely. But we feel about it as just that, living and dying. But we don't think about giving up part of our lives while it's going on. And that's what's at issue. You may be prepared to go up in front of everyone, and swear to never forsake Jesus until death, and mean it, but will you be prepared to give up your life on a weekly basis? Odds are, that's more difficult.

How quickly we all forget what it means to die for someone. We think it means one action, one life or death decision, pushing someone out of the way of a car, shoving them away from a sniper's bullet, jumping on a grenade for them, all that. But that's not all there is. There is also the very real activity of each day giving up minutes of your life for someone or something that you love. In a marriage, what does that look like? It looks like passing over the remote control and watching income property instead of MMA. Or MMA instead of income property. It means going out for sushi instead of indian food. Or indian food instead of sushi. It means not selfishly insisting on your own way (which love apparently doesn't do), but saying to the one whom you love "I love you enough to die for you. Let me give you minutes of my time."

And yes, that's what church is like, too. We think it's all about the one big moment, the life or death persecution, but it's probably not. It's, instead, more than likely about priorities. It's about saying perhaps every day 'How important is this to me, really? Would I die for it? Then why not give it a few moments right now. Usually, for us in Canada, that's much more of an issue.