Resurrection Sunday: A Great Time for Teaching
I have looked forward to Easter since I was a little girl. I can clearly remember my favorite Easter. My pretty yellow dress, white patent leather shoes, hair set in hot pressed curls and a fake white fur shawl that made me feel like a superstar. Easter always felt special to me, perhaps because it was within a week of my birthday. Perhaps because I knew that my daddy would bring me a large chocolate bunny. Oh how I loved Easter time.
Whether they were from a practicing Christian family or not, many African American children were brought to somebody’s church. What else could justify buying a brand new outfit complete with shoes to match for a day that would end with grass stains from the park, stained fingers from the colored eggs, and a tummy ache from all the chocolate and peanut butter gobbled down? Yes, Easter was a day to look forward to.
Despite my blissful memories of past Easters, I am saddened as I think of all the young faces that I see in church, Easter after Easter, who will get nicely dressed but will leave clueless as to what the celebration was for, and what the preacher was shouting about–maybe not in all churches but certainly in many black churches.
It amazes me how we tell the intricate details of the Christmas story about the birth of Christ, but when it comes to Resurrection Sunday, we only shout about Jesus being raised from the tomb, hardly ever explaining just what that means for humanity. Another black church tradition is “Watch Night,” a service given on the eve of the New Year from about 10 pm through midnight; the expectation is that many people who do not normally go to church, and/or have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, will make the commitment at that service. Naturally there is excitement and tension in anticipation of what can happen at “Watch Night” services. Often, many make the Christ-commitment for the sermons generally are about starting over afresh and starting right! The audience is primed for a response to bring in the New Year with promises to live for Christ! But I have often wondered why that same spirit of urgency isn’t preached on Resurrection Sunday/Easter?
Perhaps it’s the array of pastel colored suits, the fear of chocolate candies being melted on pew seats, or that we leaders know that the many of the people we see in our crowded sanctuaries that night are only present because of tradition and not to seek Christ. Perhaps the black church’s mentality echoes my own growing up experience. That is, I normally would not attend church on Easter because it was usually packed with people who came only once or twice a year.
As a minister now, my views have changed. What once was the Sunday I did not want to be in church, has now turned into the day I see so much salvific possibility. It seems ironic. In the same way that black pastors see home going services (funerals) as monstrous possibilities for sharing Christ with those who may not know him, I now find Easter Sunday a time of great teaching potential about the life, death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet too often, black church Easter services rush to celebrate what only the practicing Christians present know and celebrate at that moment: The Resurrection of Christ.
When asked to contribute to The Living Pulpit, I saw it as an opportunity to implore preachers, particularly those of the black church, to consider looking at Easter in a different, nontraditional way. We call it Resurrection Sunday because it is during this time that we celebrate the resurrection of Christ but any good “ole” Baptist preacher is going to remind their congregation about the resurrection of Christ at least in every couple of sermons, so while Easter Sunday is a climactic moment in the Christian life, the truth is, that in the Black church, we never go too long without celebrating the fact that “HE got up!”
Christian belief that Jesus got up on that third day is what separates us from every other religion. Most major religions agree that Jesus is a real historical figure who operated as a prophet and teacher, even perhaps a miracle worker. Most would say he seemed to be a good guy, did good things, cared and stood up for the underdog. And even that he may have died a “wrongful” death. But the belief that Christ rose from the dead is central to the teachings of Christianity. So why isn’t this worth teaching on Easter Sunday that is the most attended service in the black church by non-members especially older teens and young adults; it is the most attended service by entire member and non-member families, and it is the most attended service by members of the direct community.
While Christ instructs us to go out and make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20), this is a day when “they” are coming in to us—in droves. Therefore, business cannot be as usual. We make a huge mistake if we assume that the reason crowds come to our Easter Sunday worship service is the same as those who attend regularly. So what am I suggesting?
Earlier, I shared my experience as a young, black, unchurched girl. That experience is still not uncommon in the black community for both girls and boys. I am making a connection with the “visitors” that I see in many of the Black churches that I know. Now, in pulpit ministry, I see the occasion differently, especially for its teaching possibilities. Why don’t we, particularly in the black church, reassess the way we “do church” on Easter/Resurrection Sunday. Can we consider that while it is a great day for rejoicing and celebration, that perhaps we can gear our services to celebrate and teach about Jesus on this day and to emphasize how Salvation is accessible to everyone and worth the effort?
Maybe this means having a children’s church, if you do not already have one, on this day of great youth attendance. Maybe it is the time really to explain from beginning to end why this day is so important. Maybe it’s a day that we should not rush to our individual homes to enjoy our hams, collard greens, and cake, but make it a day of teaching followed by family and community fellowship. Perhaps the black church can move away from our same old annual Easter traditions and use Resurrection Sunday as a time to truly resurrect the life, the love, the atonement provided by the one we know as our Lord and Savior. Both the traditional festive celebratory service can be combined with an intentional teaching approach to help explain to those who come only twice a year what the excitement is really all about and how they can benefit.
