Easter over?
Is that possible?
For us who have this incorrigible need to make life’s exceptional moments more meaningful; filling it, in the process, with busyness; business; work; time consuming, people consuming, hard work; it is, thankfully, over!
And, perhaps, with a sigh of relief.
This Easter, though, because an exceptional Team of people we know as Journey Community Church, were willing to do the mind bending, heart rending, back breaking work of creatively bringing Easter into our experience, we have been moved profoundly.
Our Son, Jason, Worship Pastor of this unique Community in La Mesa, California, and his Family, invited us to share Easter with them. Because he and his Wife were both “working” that morning we – my Wife Shirley and I – cared for the Kids. We would be their escorts to “Church.” We had three choices that morning. We could “go to Church” at 7:30; 9:30; or 10:30. We chose the third.
I knew I was in for something out of the ordinary when I couldn’t find a place to park. There were so many people coming and going we had to wait in lines just to get into the Worship Center. There was an age appropriate place for our three year old Grandson but we wanted him to join us for “the music.” His five and seven year old Sisters had options too. They wanted to be with us. It wasn’t easy to find four seats together but we did. The room was nothing like “Church.” Everything was black. There were cameras and screens. The stage filled the front. There were instruments – drums, guitars, a keyboard. There were microphones. The lighting was soft and welcoming. There was music that drew us easily into the experience of Easter. The screens told about “Journey” in a most inviting way. And then it was pitch black.
What happened next was like no Easter Sunday I have ever experienced. I have been to “Church” for over 50 Easters. None was like this!
Subtle light focused on a young woman. Music and imagery surrounded her. A beautiful garden, rich with vegetation and lush colors was spread before us. She sang. “One choice, one tree.” The tree appeared. There was a piece of fruit, brilliantly crimson. She sang, “one fall for humanity.” We were there. The Kids were still and quiet. We were experiencing that fall – the enticing beauty of it all. She sang. “One lie” – the shining fruit glistened before our own eyes. She sang. “One liar” – the serpent lurked, leered from the shadowy branches. She sang. “One bite is all death required.” An arm reached from the shadows, grasped the fruit, raised it to the edge of the darkness, the dreadful bite was taken. She sang. “one great regret, one squandered chance …” The fruit fell surreally hanging, yet falling, vividly crimson through the darkness that enveloped us. “And yet,” she sang, “one hope.” The scenes change. Jesus appears. Images and symbols of his life and passion reach deep into our hearts. We are there. The Children are really there. She sang. “One day, one name above all names, one bridge between then and now. One way to discover how. One price. One tree.” Then it was dark; falling through the blackness a vivid, crimson orb glistened in its solitude. “One drop of crimson covers me.” The orb, a drop of blood, exploded into a million particles and we were bathed in its, subtle, pervasive, deeply embracing light. Covered by the crimson light we remembered we’d been covered by His life giving blood. I cried. Our grandkids were transfixed. Again it was black. Light rose to play subtly over a regally shaded backdrop; a vast curtain. The screens were telling the story of Solomon’s temple and the “Veil.” This wasn’t just a “veil.” It wasn’t even a “curtain.” A flaming sword locked Eden. This, a cosmic barrier, of infinite, intricately interwoven fabrics, 60 feet high and 3 inches thick, impenetrable, indestructible guarded the place, the holiest place, the place where God and man – one man for all people – met on God’s terms, at His time, precisely or else. But this morning, before our own eyes and ears, Jesus cried, from that “one tree,” His cross – the place of concentrated, cosmic crisis – “IT IS FINISHED!” In that instant the indestructible was destroyed! There, before our own eyes, “The veil was torn in two from top to bottom,” and a brilliantly blinding – truly “BLINDING” – cross of light blazed into view! We knew we were, for that electrifying moment, face-to-face with “The One who dwells in unapproachable light!” Marissa, Maddie, Ethan, and all the rest of us were in awe. We had just experienced “His Story … Our Story.” Those Children and I will never forget it.
We sang now. The instruments were skillfully played. There were singers who sang with passion and strength. There was a choir. The sound was rich and full and moving. No one was celebrated but Jesus. We sang about Him; “author of salvation.” We sang, “He has conquered the grave.” We sang of His forever “reign.” We had been to the cross. I remembered that, “It is the experience of genuine grief that prepares us for ‘JOY.’” This was “JOY!”
Ed, Journey’s teaching Pastor, explained that this is the “What is it?” of Christ’s and His followers’ lives. It’s the “EVENT.” Less than 30 years after it happened, he reminded us, the earliest of Christ’s followers were telling it all over their world, in person and in letters.” “He is risen!” Recalling the words of Max Lucado, he told us that if the journey to rescue humankind has taken “10,000 steps God has taken 9,999 of them.” The “veil” has been “torn from top to bottom.” Only someone from above could have done that. God did it. The “veil” is reduced to carpet. We are welcome!
THIS IS LOVE!
Ed invited us to open our hearts to this love, as the singers sang,
“the end of fear is where we begin
the moment we decided to let love in
there's nothing we can do about
the things we have to do without …
the only way to feel again is let love in …”
Many did, that morning. I resolved, again, to let God love me through this marvelous Man, Jesus, His risen, conquering, Sovereign Son.
By the skilful interweaving of virtually every available medium, this Worship Team, at great personal cost, lead us into a vibrantly real experience of “HIS STORY … Our Story.” Our Grandkids, the Children of a media age, will never be the same again. Nor will I …
Thank you, Journey Community Church for the mind bending, heart rending, back breaking work you’ve done so that Easter will never, really be over for us!
