After a year filled with lockdowns and online options and outdoor worship services and socially-distanced indoor services and mask mandates and hand sanitizer by the truckload, Easter 2021 has the potential to be a very large weekend, indeed.<\/p>\n
Besides the emergence from a global pandemic, Easter weekend is one of the two largest church attendance weekends in any calendar year.\u00a0People attend church with Grandma. Irreligious people come because it\u2019s still the socially acceptable thing to do in some parts of the country. Folks who are normally sporadic in attendance wouldn\u2019t think of skipping church on Easter.<\/p>\n
But because of COVID, Easter may feel like the right time to return.\u00a0People may have subliminally set Resurrection Sunday as their \u201cback to church\u201d date. Decreased case counts and increased vaccination rates may give people the courage to gather in a group again.<\/p>\n
But whether we\u2019re talking about unusual years like 2021 or somewhat more normal years (whatever those are), we need to talk about pastors.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a sad but true statement: we pastors generally don\u2019t know what to do with the new-found fullness of our auditoriums. So we panic. We nervously resort to humor or snarkiness or futile attempts at bridging the gap.<\/p>\n
We say things like, \u201cWe want to extend a welcome to the poinsettia and lily crowd!\u201d or \u201cThanks for coming. We\u2019ll see you again at Christmas.\u201d Or the covid-era favorite: \u201cI\u2019m not sure why you\u2019re complaining about face coverings \u2026 some of you have worn masks to church for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while we think it\u2019s cute, or funny, or disarming, it\u2019s really anything but.<\/p>\n
What we mean to be appealing is insulting.<\/p>\n
What we hope makes a point is really pointless.<\/p>\n
Instead of drawing people in, it chases them away.\u00a0Instead of bringing comfort to the outsider, it just keeps them on the outside. And instead of helping your cause, it\u2019s hurting your church.<\/p>\n
We have to remember that any step towards the church is still a step. It still takes effort. You\u2019re going to have guests on Easter weekend who wrestled with the decision to come, who wrestled with their anxieties about crowds, who are taking a chance on your safety protocols and your welcoming spirit, but in the end, they honored you with their presence. So please, don\u2019t insult them with your comments and give them one more reason not to show up the following weekend.<\/p>\n
Rather than snarky one-liners, how about grace?\u00a0How about an easy next step? How about a way to connect to other people, and most importantly, to the cross?<\/p>\n
Jesus took those who were on the outside and he brought them in.\u00a0Regardless of how long it had been, regardless of how far they had wandered, regardless of how far they had to go \u2026 the message of Good Friday and Easter Sunday is that new life is available to anyone who asks and the grace of Jesus meets us at the point of our deepest need.<\/p>\n
And more than anything else people need in 2021, people need the hope of the empty tomb.\u00a0They need that hope more than they need a job. More than they need a vaccination. More than they need a clean bill of health or a fixed marriage or a solution for their wayward child.<\/p>\n
They need the hope of the resurrection.<\/p>\n
Pastors: they\u2019re coming.\u00a0The Holy Spirit is drawing brand new honored guests to your services this weekend. How will you serve them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a year filled with lockdowns and online options and outdoor worship services and socially-distanced indoor services and mask mandates and hand sanitizer by the truckload, Easter 2021 has the potential to be a very large weekend, indeed. Besides the emergence from a global pandemic, Easter weekend is one of the two largest church attendance…","protected":false},"author":8242,"featured_media":737742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,195,194,185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-737740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-conflict-and-people-problems","category-preaching","category-worship"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n