EASTER ANTICIPATION

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." (I Corinthians 15:20)

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

Most of us associate that line with an Andy Williams song about the Christmas season, which was also used as a clever Staples "Back To School" shopping theme song. I don't want so spend a lot of time on this, but for me Christmas is usually not the most wonderful time of the year. It means all kinds of financial pressure and social obligations. Sorry. But that's how I generally feel about it. Now, Easter, is very different! I think Easter is such a better holiday than Christmas- probably a thousand times better! It's true that at Christmas we remember the birth of Jesus Christ, and of course that is significant. It's really the BODILY RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ, though, that's significant! I know many folks see that as foolishness, but as the Apostle Paul writes, to us who are saved, it is the power of God! (See and compare I Corinthians 1:18.)

Most pastors of evangelical Protestant churches can't wait to deliver their Easter Sunday sermon. For most, it's considered the most important sermon of the year. I was very unusual when I was pastoring in that I preferred to have guest speakers for Easter Sunday rather than to preach. I would imagine no more than one percent of evangelical Protestant pastors feel that way! Honestly, I had five Easter Sunday messages: one from each of the four Gospels and one from the Apostle Paul's great Resurrection chapter, First Corinthians 15. After five Easter Sundays, I wasn't so sure what to preach on. I re-preached some of the sermons. I kind of tinkered with some of them, but pretty much I had those five Easter sermons and that was it! I also hated the feeling on Easter Sundays that I was expected to hit the equivalent of a grand slam home run from the pulpit. If all I hit was a single, well, it made Easter feel kind of mediocre. I came to really enjoy hearing other pastors' sermons. On at least twelve of the Easter Sundays that I pastored between 1987 and 2010 I had guest speakers in the pulpit. One of the best was my friend the Rev. Dick Germaine, somewhere around 2006. I remember that in 1997 we had a great Easter Sunday message by seasoned Assemblies of God minister Harvey Meppelink. I think I had Jim Spence from The Bridge House speak on an Easter Sunday, and a bunch of other fine people brought Easter sermons over the years, too. When I had a guest speaker, I'd get to relax and enjoy the sermon and enjoy Easter along with everybody else.

This year, I'm thinking: Bob Baril, you fool! You didn't appreciate the opportunities you had to preach on Easter Sunday!

Easter is a little early this year. It's in March- late March. I think it's best when Easter falls on the second Sunday of April, but the whole Easter calendar thing is a subject for another day. I haven't really preached for over a year. A few days ago I got to thinking about what I would preach if I were preaching on Easter Sunday. I admit that at times I was in a rut in my preaching. I now realize that I do not have to be bound by having five Easter sermons. In fact, as I really thought about it, I decided that if I were preaching on Easter Sunday this year, I'd include material from all of those portions of Scripture; from the Gospels and from First Corinthians 15.I would probably take my main text from First Corinthians 15, but I'd have five points to the sermon. No, it would not be an "eternal" sermon! I'd have five relatively brief points. I'd draw five thoughts from the Gospels and I Corinthians 15- one key thought from each chapter, and I'd wrap it up stressing how we need to allow the reality of the resurrection to transform our lives and the lives of those around us.

I'm not pastoring anymore, but at least I can think about that in anticipation of Easter. Preaching is a high calling. I knew that...or did I? I don't know if I will ever pastor again, but if I ever do, I think I will approach preaching with much more of a sense of the awe and privilege and responsibility of it. When I did pastor, I preached a lot of good sermons, and some very good sermons. I also had my share of bad ones. Something that amazes me is that I have never heard a bad sermon from the pastor I now sit under (Gary Collette at Bread of Life Church in Westminster, MA). Sometimes he's mispronounced a word or had a minor factual error, but most of the sermons I've heard him give are either outstanding or very good. There have been some "O.K." sermons, but never a bad one. For those of us who are preachers, that's something to think about. Honestly, although most of my sermons were good, over the pears that I pastored I preached probably five terrible sermons and probably twenty bad sermons. I guess there was at least one for every year! The worst sermon I ever preached was a topical sermon on the Fourth of July. I am amazed anyone showed up the next Sunday- it was THAT bad! Another time I promoted to the hilt a sermon called "Radical Christianity". I told the church they'd dare not miss it and that it would be one of the most important sermons they would ever hear. I felt all kinds of things I wanted to say that week. I was "all whipped up". But when it came down to pen and paper, I struggled. And, when I got up to deliver the sermon, it absolutely was weak and disjointed and completely fell flat! The sermon I implied would probably be the gem of my career, alas, goes down in the annals as one of those five terrible ones I just wrote about! No kidding, one male church member at least fifteen years my senior, came to see me after that and told me he was never so disappointed as he was with that sermon! (And eventually he left the church!) Another time I was preaching through the Book of Acts. I came to one chapter that I had a terrible time crafting into a three point sermon. It ended up being historical and factual, but totally boring and having no real objective. Somebody later said to me, "That sermon didn't seem to have any point to it!" For me, the scary thing is, it didn't!

Well, Easter is about Resurrection! I really love Easter! And thank God it's a day a preacher can forget about sermons that fell flat and were terrible and disappointed people and had no point to them! Easter is about resurrection! Easter is about new life in Christ! Easter is about a future and a hope! I'm not pastoring this year and I don't have a congregation to prepare a sermon for, but I can think about those five great Easter chapters and how they all go together and what a powerful message they present and how great is our God! Yes, Easter is a time for joy and for anticipation! Preachers, don't just pull something out of the file this year; ask God for a fresh message; and people, go to church this year expecting to meet with God in a special way!