It is an interesting time within the Christian church and faith. Particularly here in the U.S. as cultural and generational shifts are seemingly swaying more greatly than ever before. The politicization of Christianity; the opinions as to our posture and how we should behave as we walk the earth alongside fellow humans; the systemic issues of a racialized society; the chasm between the haves and have-nots; the arguments that we're great, aren’t great, were great once, or could be great again; have us in vitriolic divide. And many only leave it up to their votes, their statements, or to others to address these issues. And exist isolated within their individualisms.
You see, we have become (and probably always have been) consumers in and of life. Seeking the quick fix, the ease, and the matching opinions that will satisfy our own. As a result, many of our churches have developed facilities, programs, and messages that appease this context. Products that will present a nice message that may slightly challenge us, but nevertheless make us feel rather nice. Products that agree with our life and mindset so we can go and tell others to follow my suit. Products that may bring insight, thought, and feeling, but mostly allow us to move along my merry way.
The church offers too much Easter.
Early in the Bible it shares about how all that God created was “good.” Then humanity said “no” to God in the garden and became no longer good. Then Jesus came to earth for us, died for us, and allowed us to be good in God’s eyes once more. Simple as that. Easter makes it good again. And we like that. We can easily grab hold of Easter. It appeals so nicely to our sensibilities. Atonement. Redemption. Getting us to a place where we are good. And we like good. It makes us feel good.
So our church experience must appeal to us feeling good. It’s what makes us show up in the pew. "Don’t challenge me too hard or you may lose me." After all, as a consumer, I can always choose another product or, pun intended, service. One with more bells and whistles to satisfy my desires.
I had a conversation with a friend the other day who was telling me about a church she attends. She shared that the majority of the pastors came from the therapy space. And that she was a bit astounded at the transparency of dysfunction they shared from up front in the church. It was unusual to her, but she found it beautiful.
Dysfunction. It is where hard work sits. It is where humanity clashes up against itself. It is where Jesus went.
Jesus, who was fully God—one of God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit—became fully man as well. He became individual. Yet he eschewed any of individuality’s sustenance, and the need to be comfortable, celebrated, or agreed with. He went down into "the Good Friday” of our dysfunction. He shared and showed how we should exist within the Good Friday. But there were many who wanted more than that. Many wanted a way out of the Good Friday; an overturning king with a sword; a preacher who agreed with their position; a politician who supported their individual rights and beliefs. Because that’s what our individual and consumer selves want isn’t it?
So we sit in a pew on Sunday and desire to be in the Easter here—now. But we are in the Good Friday.
We must realize this. That the Easter, while accomplished, is not the now. We must pursue the Good Friday—our Good Friday. It is the place of accomplishment. It is where lives are changed, systems challenged, tables overturned, healing comes, relations restored, bridges constructed, palms waved, feet washed, and where faith lives. And it is a hard place. It is the wandering wilderness. The desert land.
When Jesus went into the Good Friday, he healed the sick, went to the margins, challenged powers, corrected his followers. He gave, shared, ate, cleaned, laughed, cried, empathized, understood. He set his self aside. He had the faith of the Easter, but his work was in the Good Friday.
And it is within the Good Friday that his time on earth was lived Where it was actualized. Where it was fully executed.
And he affirmed so with his words “It is finished.”