More Than One Sunday

By Adam Faughn     Today is one of "those" days for a lot of preachers. Because the calendar says something, there is a balancing act that many of us feel on these types of days. Do we preach about the "holiday," or do we avoid it?     Sometimes, it is a secular holiday, but one where people expect to hear something related to it. You might think of Mother's Day or Father's Day. It is just expected that there will be a sermon based, at least in part, on those subjects.     At other times, it is more of a national holiday. Maybe the expectation for a sermon based around these holidays is not as common, but they are sometimes used as the "jumping-off point" for lessons. These might include Memorial Day, Independence Day, or Thanksgiving.     There are two, however, that really cause preachers to do some thinking: Christmas and Easter. Because they are religious in nature, there is a tension: do we dive in and celebrate like so many others? Do we avoid them altogether? Do we preach against them? Ask around, and you can find people who will take any of these stances (and more).     But of those two, Easter is the one that is most interesting for some people, simply because we do know when it was. When it comes to Christmas, we do not know the time of year nor (especially) the date when Jesus was born. However, since Jesus was raised from the dead following Passover, we can know when in the year that occurred. And, since Jews still celebrate Passover, we can be certain each year when the "anniversary" of that tremendous occasion was.     However, it is quite interesting that the early Christians, who would have known that date on the calendar even better than we do, did not celebrate some type of "anniversary service" for the resurrection. We do not read of any special ceremonies for the first or fifth or seventh or tenth anniversaries of Jesus's death or resurrection. That silence is quite telling.     What is more telling, though, is that these Christians considered the resurrection all the time. If you read the book of Acts carefully, you will find a constant emphasis on the resurrection of Jesus because it was the basis of their hope, and it was their prime motivation. They did not need to have some annual reminder because they were thinking of the resurrection all the time!     I do not believe it is wrong to preach on the resurrection on this particular Sunday. After all, so many are expecting it, and it provides a chance to speak to something that is on their mind. I also do not believe it would be wrong for a family to talk about the resurrection in a home devotional to help cement in the minds of their children that this was an actual, historical event.     That said, we are nowhere commanded to have a special "resurrection Sunday" one day each year. We are nowhere given an example of the early Christians doing so. But we are shown that the resurrection filled their thinking and motivated their worship each and every Lord's Day, and it should ours, as well. "This Jesus God raised up" (Acts 2:32) "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:20)

- Adam Faughn preaches for the Central Church of Christ in Paducah KY. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.centralchurchofchrist.org Visit the Faughn Family blog, A Legacy of Faith