March 21, 2005
Art Linkletter (now 93 years old) appeared on Sunday’s Crystal Cathedral program. I rarely watch the program, but when I saw Mr. Linkletter’s face, I stopped channel surfing. In characteristic fashion, he told one of his “Kids Say the Darndest Things” stories. A Sunday School teacher asked a little girl, “What does Easter mean to Christians?” The girl replied, “Jesus died and they placed him in a cave. They rolled a big stone to seal the tomb. On Easter, Jesus came out of the tomb alive.” The teacher was impressed. “Then, what happened?” she asked. The little girl looked perplexed, and after a few moments of thinking said, “He looked down, saw his shadow, and went back in for six more weeks.”
Children and adults need to have a proper understanding and appreciation for what Easter (the Resurrection) means to us.
My seminary professors asked our class many years ago, “What is the most important doctrine in Christianity?” We offered what we considered good responses: the Incarnation (God becoming human in Jesus), the Atonement (Jesus’ sacrificial death for our sins), even “the authority of the Bible” (remember, I was a Battlin’ Baptist then). “Wrong,” the professor said, “the most important doctrine in Christianity is ‘The Resurrection’, for without Jesus’ Resurrection, all other doctrines fail.” He was correct, and we learned an important truth.
As we come to the most important day on the Christian calendar, it is appropriate we should observe the Resurrection in more than routine way. Our wonderful chancel choir will bless us Sunday with an Easter Cantata. In what has become one of the two major annual outreach efforts at Christ UMC, we will conduct the second annual Children’s Easter Festival from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. this Saturday (March 26). I want to thank all the volunteers, especially the men of the church who constructed games the children will enjoy, and Anita who spearheaded the major undertaking. We will have Christian cartoon videos for the children to watch while they eat or rest from riding the ponies, jumping in the inflated house, and playing the dozen or so games we will set up.
About three years ago I passed through the “welcome room” at the rear of our sanctuary one weekday afternoon. I saw a girl, about eight years old, peeking into our sanctuary. “Hi,” I said. My voice startled the little girl, having been transfixed by trying to take it in all that she saw in our worship center, decorated for Easter services. A member of the after-school program we had at the time, she apologized for staring into the inner sanctum of our church. In words that broke my heart, she said, “Pastor Bill, do you think one day I could actually go into the church? You see, my family doesn’t go to church, and I’ve never been inside.” Fighting back tears, I said, “Sweetheart, you sure can. Let’s do it now.” She delighted in her personal guided tour, thanked me, and ran outside telling her playmates the excitement she could not contain. I remember her often, and wonder if that remains her solitary venture into God’s Holiness. I also hope I never lose her excitement of being in God’s house, something we too easily take for granted.
Saturday, we hope we will see many children. For some, this will be their only contact with the church and Jesus, who said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Pray that we will have good weather (so the children can see THEIR shadows), and that some children who otherwise have no contact with the meaning of Easter, may come to a better understanding of the most important doctrine in all of Christianity.
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