Did you trip over the preposition “WITH” and think that was a typo? Did you expect to read “What are you doing ON Easter this year?” meaning “What are your plans for the day?”
There are many beautiful Easter traditions some of us enjoy: Time around the dinner table with family, Easter egg hunts, visiting the Easter bunny, filling Easter baskets, Good Friday and Easter Sunday church services. When I was young I would wake up early and sift through my Easter basket. Afterward, I’d climb in the car and nap while Dad drove Mom and me 50 miles to Cook Forest, PA, to attend an outdoor Easter sunrise service at a campground. Something about being out in God’s creation watching the sunrise, shivering in the cold spring morning, made Easter even more special.
Traditions are wonderful. They connect us to our families and our past. They can also be exhausting idols that we serve, numbing us to the reason we’re participating in them. In Jesus’ day, He publicly opposed the Pharisees for putting man’s traditions above following God and loving Him with their whole heart. They added numerous man-made laws to God’s commandments, overwhelming the people they were entrusted to serve. Following God became more of a burden than a blessing.
After graduating from the Easter bunny’s traditions, I was in a bit of limbo, not sure quite what to do with Easter. The story of the cross was a bit brutal for a sensitive soul like me, and I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
I had an experience in college that I wrote about in my signature concert “Catch a Falling Dream”. A friend of mine died in a tragic accident and I was there when it happened. I attended his funeral at a Catholic church. Having grown up Methodist, I remember feeling so out of place, not able to follow all the “stand up”, “sit down”, “kneel” traditions that went into the service. My grief made me feel stupid and ashamed for being there at his death. I felt even more stupid and ashamed for feeling so out of place in church. Do I blame the church? Of course not. It’s just an example of how traditions can alienate and confuse hurting people who simply need the love and comfort of God. To process this time of confusion, I wrote this song: Letter to My Father
Going through the loss of a friend at such a young age changed me. Easter became more than a holiday. It became an event that I wrestled with, pondered, thought about deeply. What did it truly mean? I found out that my faith had historical and archaeological evidence behind it. I wasn’t believing in a feel-good fairy tale. I was believing in a man, God’s Son, who walked the earth, lived, died and was resurrected so I could have new life in Him. One of the pivotal books I read was Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ. Lee was a journalist and an atheist who was disappointed and angry when his wife became a follower of Christ. He started investigating to prove her wrong. All the evidence he uncovered from interviews with scholars changed his mind. God wanted me to use the brain He gave me to ask hard questions, to wrestle with doubt, to seek truth.
What are you doing with Easter this year? God welcomes your difficult questions. He doesn’t want mindless followers going through the motions every year because that’s what they’ve always done. He doesn’t want people so steeped in religion and so burdened by legalism that they don’t have time for a relationship with Him. He wants your heart. He made your heart and made it to love Him.
I wish you a beautiful and joy-filled Easter and pray that you spend some time getting to know the Maker of your heart.