the wrong way to celebrate easter
good news weekly 4.12.25
our favorite week of the year is here,
join us today (saturday) for our neighbor party
each evening as we ‘flower the cross’ w. a brief time of convo/devotion
at 7pgood friday for services w. @nathanfinochio at 4 + 6p.
easter at cutting hall down the street at 9 + 11a.
the wrong way to celebrate easter.
this coming week is the most important on the Christian calendar, peak church if you will.
yet, an increasing number only celebrate Easter, not Friday along with it.
i could probe the reasons,
a more laissez-faire approach to faith in many peoples lives
a desire by faith leaders to turn a big attendance number by only offering one thing
the increasing emphasis on evangelism over discipleship
but maybe i could just say this,
you can’t fully celebrate the resurrection unless you remember the crucifixion.
i booked a vacation this week. something i am very excited about. i probably think about it every half hour. the trip will be great, but the anticipation is a gigantic part of the joy.
it’s like a slingshot. the further back you pull it, the more tension you create, the further the object flies. celebrating Holy Week without remembering the crucifixion on Good Friday minimizes the joy available on Easter Sunday.
it comes as a package: the sorrow of Jesus death is a needed stop on the path to the joy of Sunday. if i have any influence in your life, i would encourage you to find church services to attend both Friday + Sunday.
of course ... our church in Palatine would love to welcome you, but my point isn’t WHERE, it’s WHAT. remembering the pain + blood + discomfort that comes with seeing my sin is GOOD for me. that is why even though it was a BAD day for JESUS, it was good for us.
hopefully this helps you start along the way.
my dear friend (and international wild man) nathan finochio will be teaching for us on Good Friday, 4 + 6p with an amazing kids program at each.
This week the Church looks dead in the eyes the beauty and grotesque realities of the cross. I believe it’s worth our time to dwell on the fact that a sinless man named Jesus was spit on, whipped, scourged, beaten and crucified on my behalf. It’s a sobering thought that He loved sinful, selfish me enough to die. Thank goodness we know the ending of the story and that Jesus didn’t stay in the grave, but I don’t think time to contemplate all He did for us is ever wasted.
I was listening to the song “I Thank God” this week and the chorus goes like this, “He picked me up, turned me around, He placed my feet on solid ground, I thank the Master, I thank the Savior. Because He healed my heart, He changed my name. Forever free, I am not the same, I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, I thank God.” It’s a beautiful anthem of gratitude for the cross. The song’s bridge says, “Get up, get up, get up, Get up outta that grave” twelve times. And in the midst of listening to this over and over, it got me thinking about how after we have received salvation and are walking in the forgiveness of Christ we get ‘stuck in the grave!’ Most of us could think of at least one besetting sin that is keeping us flat out STUCK and sometimes if we are honest we would rather stay stuck than fight the fight we think it’s gonna take.
Maybe for you it’s that story that you can’t stop telling or maybe replaying in your mind about what happened to you. Maybe it’s what someone did to you and you can’t believe how well their life seems to be going. Maybe your stomach won’t stop swirling over the fact that they got the promotion you think you deserved. Maybe there was something unjust that was done to you that hasn’t been rectified yet and all you’re looking at is broken pieces. Maybe fear is crippling you in areas of your life. I could go on and on. I know what mine are and I’m guessing that you know what yours are, too.
What if this Easter week, you bring to the cross this sin that’s holding you back. The one that maybe feels too big to actually lay down. And what if there could be so much freedom on the other side of laying that down. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.”
This week we will be gathering at the cross out in front of the church from 7-7:30 (Sunday-Thursday), we’re calling it Sunsets at the Cross. You are invited. Often we don’t like to go places empty handed, so if you choose, bring real or fake flowers. We will take these few minutes to read scripture and pray together. We will take a moment to leave what we need to leave at the cross. Let’s not let this week go by without personally laying down what keeps tripping us up and the ability to walk in the freedom Christ paid such a high price for on our behalf.
Last Weeks Sermon
my buddy, bobby, taught on John 18 — a really strong message that will challenge you.
Playlist
vibes for spring, i think you will dig it.
Cup of Leadership
’15 days to stop the spread’
'dewey defeats truman.’ - chicago tribune
‘mission accomplished.’ - george w. bush
‘not 5, not 6, not 7’ - lebron james
some of the most infamous moments in history are moments of presumptive understanding.
when kristen first met me, she thought i was a dork ... soon we will be married 18 years. they said tiger would never win the masters again. i never thought i would get to minister with my friend tara again. their marriage seemed like a terrible idea and 20 years later they are happy and have 10 kids. peter denied Jesus, no way he could be the foundation of the church.
life is filled with comebacks + setbacks. people that seem like they will ALWAYS or NEVER do XYZ and surprise us. we do better when our conclusions + verdicts are written in pencil so that when people change, we can change along with them.
it’s easy to date-stamp people. he was a jerk in 2005, she was flaky in 2022. when we do that, we take the a place of God, passing a verdict that He may not have.
we want to be allowed to grow and change, but struggle to accept others doing the same.
i was with someone this week who is trying hard to change, i wouldn’t have believe it possible. but if God is still working on him, how can i assume i know the whole story?
and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
phillipians 1.6
this is good news,
luke + kristen