Unleashed: As You Go – Pray
“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:21-22
“U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time.” This recent headline came at the same time as Holy Week. Christians around the world celebrated Easter yesterday and yet fewer and fewer Americans identify with the church. Gallup first measured this statistic in 1937. Church membership that year was at 73%. Over the course of the decades there was a slight drop but still maintaining a majority of the population, until 2010. We began to see a significant decline, resulting in this year’s dramatic drop to 47%.
I will not go into all the rationale given for the decline nor the obvious impact on society. As you well know, church membership doesn’t necessarily imply passionate followers of Jesus Christ. In some ways this number may actually represent a positive trend as the church rids itself of “in name only” Christians. The church is growing leaner but hopefully not meaner. Could it be that we are on the verge of a new awakening?
I mourn for those who have walked away from the church yet I am hopeful the day will come after the world has beaten them down, robbed them of hope and left them empty, they will hear Jesus calling, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
The message of Easter isn’t about a spectacular past event celebrated once a year nor is it about waiting to live a blissful life after death. “The message of Easter is that God’s new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you’re now invited to belong to it.” (N. T. Wright)
The Resurrection was and is bodily, a transformed body. The transformed, resurrected body of Jesus brings life and hope to a fallen world. The power of Easter must be put into effect to “transform at a macro level and to the intimate details of our daily lives.” In the midst of changing cultural norms, increased social divisions and rampant violent actions, it is only through the power of Easter that this world has hope. Easter as a once a year event gives us bunny rabbits and chocolate covered eggs, but it doesn’t transform lives, doesn’t impact nations, nor bring hope to those in need.
“Christian holiness consists not of trying as hard as we can to be good but of learning to live in the new world created by Easter, the new world we publicly entered in our baptism. There are many parts of the world we can’t do anything about except pray. But there is one part of the world, one part of physical reality, that we can do something about, and that is the creature each of us calls, “myself.” (N. T. Wright)
How do we live in the world created by Easter?
We live in the world with our focus upon “a new heaven and a new earth.” Rev 21:1
We live in the world different because God said, “I am the LORD your God…Be holy, for I am holy.” Lev 11:44
We live in the world in light of Matthew 4:17. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
We live in the world having let “the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.” Col 3:15
We live in the world for we “are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one In Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26,28
“How do we live in the world created by Easter?” Our answer is pretty simple . . . Jesus. This will be the only answer that will make a difference for those walking away from the church.
God is great,
Pastor Lynn