Easter Celebration

Time to dust off the blog again and rejoin the electronic community.  Holy Week was a rush in more than one sense.  We survived, met several new people, and look forward to the coming weeks.

I had a blast on Easter.  I got to the church at 5:30am (which is the closest thing to an "ungodly" hour) and preached the sunrise service in the church parking lot.  We had 77 people at the service, which was remarkable since we hadn't advertised it much and we only had 45 last year. 

Followed that up with a great breakfast, cooked by our men's group.

11:00 was the big show.  We had a good crowd and everything came together.  The children's sermon was my favorite part of the service, which is interesting, since I don't usually like to do them (it's my personal opinion).  I told the kids that we were going to have a party.  I gave them all noise-making party favors and we decorated with streamers.  After I had them play "Jesus Loves Me" on the favors, I showed them how we would decorate.  I didn't tell anyone else what I was planning.  I simply took a roll of streamers and chucked it to the back of the sanctuary.  I have still retained my form from my lawn rolling high school days.

I had the perfect vantage point.  I saw every eye get wide when the roll went airborne.  Once the shock settled, people started catching on and the four rolls I had were unrolled all over the sanctuary.  It was incredible and much better than I had anticipated.

The point?  Easter is a celebration.  In fact, all days of every week, because of Easter, are celebrations.  No longer do the recession, our finances, our broken relationships, our illnesses, our hardships, or even our death have power over us.  Because of Christ, we have reason to celebrate every day that we draw breath and show that to the world.

The best thing about the last two weeks in worship is that it hasn't felt for a moment like drudgery.  There's been no lack of emphasis in worship and people have been very active in participating.  That, to me, is the way that worship should be.

I told Erin last week that I was thinking of revamping our worship services (we'll see how that unfolds).  I asked her what was the most significant worship service of the year, in terms of style, not theology.  If you think about it, it's Palm Sunday.  Yes, we do some ridiculous things on Palm Sunday like wave some branches in church, but it's still very meaningful.

Two weeks ago, on Palm Sunday, I preached on the concept of doxology (latin for sung or spoken praise to God).  Our doxology is the essence of worship.  We begin with introspection that leads us to confession and forgiveness.  With that forgiveness and the promise of a fulfilled, purposeful life with Christ, how can we not move to doxology.

Maybe your church recites a doxology on Sunday morning (in ours, one is the response to the creed and the other is the response to the offering), if you were going to redesign your worship service to center on doxology and help move people to that point, how would you do it?

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On a side note:  I'm finally getting caught up on publishing sermons again.  I've skipped over last fall's for now and started again with this year's sermons.  You can find them on iTunes HERE (or by searching for "Mt. Bethel") or you can listen to them over the web HERE.