Several years ago, on Easter, I taught about Jesus’ resurrection – shocking, I know. Then the next week, from the same text, I taught essentially the same lesson. I monitored the feedback I was getting as I went. Soon looks of curiosity (“Boy, this seems familiar…) turned to looks of frustration (“Did he not think up a new sermon for this week???)

Approaching the breaking point of everyone’s patience with me, I stopped and explained that the repetition was intentional. I said that in modern society, we’re all info-holics – people who want to be the first to know what’s new and what’s next. More books, articles, and sites are made each day than we could absorb in a year, so we skim, click, and jump, faster and faster and faster.

You could say we’re not very good at lingering.

But Easter is one place – perhaps the most important place – that’s worth lingering.

He is not here. He is risen.

Don’t move on just yet. Don’t tell me you’ve already heard that. Don’t go looking for the next big thing.

Don’t walk away from the empty tomb too fast. Linger. What does it mean–for me, today, this moment–that he is risen?

It’s been a week since Easter. Technically, it’s been 2,000 years and a week.

But it’s still Easter.

Jesus is still risen, still present, still active, still victorious over sin and death and anything else you’re facing.

If you’ll indulge me, a quick recap of ClearView’s first Easter illustrates exactly this point. Last Sunday was our six-month mark as a church, and it was an amazing milestone indeed.

In partnership with the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana we hosted a sunrise service in the amphitheater around the pond immediately behind the lodge where we usually gather for worship. A confession: I was not optimistic about the attendance. I thought we’d be fortunate if 20 or 30 showed up. To my amazement, 64 folks gathered together at that early, early hour and it was an awesome celebration. Gary Lash, president of the Y, told me just beforehand that the last person to give an Easter message in that spot was the famous evangelist Billy Sunday–no pressure, right?

Later, at our 10 a.m. gathering, we hosted an even larger group. As a surprise to everyone, our time of communion was led by Hannah Beatty. Hannah is part of our church family–but at a distance. Several months ago she quit her job as a civil engineer to go serve with Engineering Ministries International in Uganda. Obviously, she had to record her comments on video ahead of time, and the benefit of that is that you can be blessed by them as well (see below).

After that, during my teaching, I talked about Jesus’ victory over sin and death and the assurance that gives us regardless of the challenge or obstacle that confronts us. To paraphrase Matthew 28:20, he is with us always. Many of those who gathered recommitted their life to Christ, acknowledging their need to trust Christ in the face of challenges like debt, anxiety, family tensions, complacency, and questions of self-worth.

Still others said they were interested in making a first-time commitment to Christ. This led to yesterday, when ClearView celebrated it’s first baptism. The young adult who has now committed himself to Christ, considered himself a religious skeptic and was an outsider to church just a month ago.

Which seems to me to prove one thing – It’s still Easter.

Last week I wrote this brief message for ClearView’s website. I’m still digging it, so I wanted to repost it here. I’m planning a series of new posts too. Original content should start showing up again beginning this afternoon.

It’s Easter.

But we’re not going to hide any eggs. Or rent a bunny-suit. Or ask anyone to put on pastels.

What we are going to do is simple. We’re going to sing and shout and preach and pray like people who have been redeemed.

Like people who have been set free.

Like people who once were dead and are now alive.

Because we are.

And because it’s Easter.

And Jesus is alive.

And anything is possible.

If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to check out ClearView – This is it! There’s no better message than the good news of Jesus’ resurrection. We’re hosting two Easter Gatherings, one at sunrise and one at 10 a.m. Find out more and get directions here.

The phrase, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!” is familiar to most Christians. It takes us back to the darkness of a Friday 2,000 years ago when Jesus was hung on a cross and the brilliance of the following Sunday when he was resurrected.

But the phrase is powerful because it directs us to think about our current situation in light of those earth-shaking events. The God who raised Jesus back to life is still at work redeeming and restoring all people and all things, and if that’s what he did with that, imagine what he can do with this.

Resurrection, in other words, isn’t something that happened just to Jesus, but the pattern of how God works in all things.

In the meantime, Friday is hard. Friday is brutally hard. We don’t spend all of our life there (though some spend more time there than others), but all of us spend some time there.

The year that God seems distant

The season when your marriage just doesn’t work

The day you get the phone call

The moment someone close turns on you

Friday. All of us.

Some Christians seem to think Friday is optional. If you have enough faith or pray just the right way, you’ll get a pass from such troubles in life. Others seem to have settled into Friday and forgotten entirely about Sunday. They punch their card each week and go through all the motions, but, apparently, they ran out of joy before they ran out of work. Neither view has it right.

Here’s the Gospel: Friday is real, but it is not ultimate. Following Christ involves great loss: discomfort, denial, death. Let’s be clear about that; Jesus certainly was. But in every moment of loss, God is at work bringing about new life: redemption, restoration, resurrection.

Death. Resurrection.

Loss. Life.

Friday. Sunday.

Last Friday, I sent a message to about 25 folks who have all partnered together to launch a new church in Shreveport, Louisiana that will be known as ClearView Church. It was just a quick note to remind everyone of the time and place for our first gathering. I repeated that we shouldn’t expect too much: we haven’t yet tried to get the word out, and, frankly, we’ve got a lot of work to do before we should. Just before sending the message, without much thought, I titled it, “Sunday’s Coming.”

On Sunday we gathered, and it was beyond any and all expectations. 72 people came together, some of whom I have no idea how they knew about it, and the sense of joy, freedom, and expectation was greater than I’ve experienced ever before.

Sometimes, we have to grit our teeth and remind ourselves, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.” Other times we find ourselves right smack in the middle of God’s goodness, and, with gratitude, all we can do is say, “Sunday came!”

God’s work of resurrection showed up on Easter morning 2,000 years ago. It showed up again last Sunday. It has shown up countless times in between, and it’s going to keep on showing up until the day when there is nothing, absolutely nothing, left for any of us to say but, “Sunday came!”