Easter Weekend...

So I started writing this earlier but it kind of turned into a Rob Bell/emerging church bashing post so I deleted it. This is my second attempt:

Good Friday. I think it's pretty ironic that we call it "good" because at the time it was the single most hopeless day in the history of the world. Despite telling the disciples what the deal was going to be, the warnings never took and they watched the guy that was to be their savior, their messiah die the death of a criminal. These guys had left their entire lives, their families, their jobs, their friends, their hometowns…everything. And it hinged on this one guy who was up on a cross. And he died.

Then, you have Easter Sunday. The Resurrection. I think my favorite Gospel account of that morning is the one in Luke 24 where the angel approaches the women and asks "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here - he has risen!" How incredible is that? He isn't dead - he's alive.

And the thing about the Resurrection is that it is THE central truth, reality, point, whatever you want to call it - it is THE center to everything we, as Christians, do. There's a movement out there, in Christianity, that is trying to discount the importance of the Resurrection. Really it's trying to discount the centrality of Christ to the Gospel, but the Resurrection has come under attack. But it bears the question - what if, on your death bed, you found out that atheism were true. There was no God, and Christ, at best, was a really good teacher who had a few good stories about him embellished and he never rose from the dead. Would you look at your life and say "oh, well, I led a good life. I was nice to people, I gave my money and possessions away, so I'm satisfied" or would you be in agony? Would you think that you wasted your entire life? Paul says that if Christ didn't rise again - if there is no resurrection of the dead - then our entire faith is in vain. This is the central piece to our faith.

Anyway, these are just some thoughts I've put together. I knew I wanted to write something about Easter on Good Friday, and at the very least I hope this was coherent. I just know one thing to be true - somewhere in the Middle East there is a tomb that once held a dead body, but after three days, that dead man got up and walked out of the tomb, and because of that we have hope. Because of that, we have life.

I pray for myself that I would always remember this - that everything in life is about proclaiming the resurrected Christ.

-chanchan