Show and Share Easter

"God's command is for his people to see a near one as a dear one."

Protestants and Catholics simultaneously share the celebration of Easter on the calendar. Easter can be celebrated in so many different ways, which is a good thing, by Protestants that we shouldn't grow so accustomed and therefore unaffected by the holiday. Sadly, that's but a hopeful mist falling away into the air.

Carl F. H. Henry once lamented the church’s lack of concern for engaging the world with justice and righteousness in his time. In his 1947 book, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism, he wrote, “If Protestant orthodoxy holds itself aloof from the present world predicament it is doomed to a much reduced role. . . . If the evangelical answer is in terms of religious escapism, then the salt has lost its savor.”

I wrestle with staying inside my comfort bubble just to escape the naysayers and negative things said. Maybe you do, too. Not only am I reminded that faith without works is dead if kept aloof, but I'm persuaded that God actually placed me where I am on purpose. But none of that matters if I hide from the darkness.

God has a track record of taking ordinary people, calling them to an extraordinary mission alongside Him, giving them extraordinary power to display the characteristics of God (justice and righteousness) as best we can, and calling those ordinary people to point to and magnify the Son of God.

The people living around us need us to share and show Easter in new and fresh ways. We need God to empower us to do this. This synergy is something we ought to plead with God for. I'm just trying to make my Fairburn neighbors feel like dear ones.