If you're a church-going person or were anything like me growing up, you're bought a fancy dress that you hate, you go to church, sit with your parents, either watch a drama or hear the pastor preach the same sermon, or a variation of last year's. You go home and eat a ham, some potatoes and hunt for Easter eggs.
As I've grown up, the tradition stays the same, but my heart starts to ask "why".
Why even buy the fancy "Easter clothes"? Jesus knows where my heart is, and my garb is not a good representation of that. Okay and I really don't much like dressing up. I just don't see a need for it.
But why a drama? Why the same sermon? Why do we keep traditions?
Because we're forgetful people. (That doesn't apply to the dress.)
If you're a church-going person, this holy day can become somewhat of a drag because it's so predictable, not unlike several others. I think I'm there now.
The heart gets warm and fuzzy because I understand now what the guy is talking about, then it hurts because I hear about how Jesus was crucified, and then I get really excited because "He is risen!" ("He is risen indeed!"). We can even sometimes predict who's going to play Jesus in the Sunday drama and go on assuming He was a white, brown-haired, good-lookin' guy. (Hey, He might've been, but don't make assumptions. I'm reading The Shack right now and it's a good reminder that our religious stereotypes aren't always correct.)
We even let ourselves get ahead of the preacher in our heads, thinking, 'yeah yeah, I know what's coming next...He died, Mary found Him, we sing praise hymns, yadda yadda.'
Perhaps now is the time to allow yourself to get out of that annual slump and let your heart be stirred. Take in the words. Let them affect you. God created you to live and to be reminded of why you're even alive in the first place. Let Sunday be a celebration in your heart.
As we go into the Easter weekend, I pray you are filled with much hope and joy, for these are not conditional of your current situation. May your skin be stretched and your heart filled up.
I forgot I wrote this...but it seems fitting.
Spiritual Osmosis
Skin is only the outer wall of the temple
the Holy of Holies
it stretches
it pulls
it pushes
it contains
but it doesn't keep Him in.
our bodies move together
like moving churches
collide.
cringe.
argue.
learn.
pray.
together.
for the Body is not a building...
the curtain has fallen
and the spirit moves as the spirit wishes
going from body to body
all at once
moving
interceding
changing us.
my skin is only a gate
to house the Creator.
He moves us but never leaves.
this frail frame of a body
has become a throne room
of my King.
I can dance before Him
and He with me
and no reservations.
in His throne room.
the cobwebs are gone
the corners swept clean.
the demons still lurk
but they shudder.
for they know Who made
the skin I'm in.
Skin is only the outer wall of the temple
the Holy of Holies
it stretches
it pulls
it pushes
it contains
but it doesn't keep Him in.
our bodies move together
like moving churches
collide.
cringe.
argue.
learn.
pray.
together.
for the Body is not a building...
the curtain has fallen
and the spirit moves as the spirit wishes
going from body to body
all at once
moving
interceding
changing us.
my skin is only a gate
to house the Creator.
He moves us but never leaves.
this frail frame of a body
has become a throne room
of my King.
I can dance before Him
and He with me
and no reservations.
in His throne room.
the cobwebs are gone
the corners swept clean.
the demons still lurk
but they shudder.
for they know Who made
the skin I'm in.
1 comments:
I know this always touches on a little teeny tiny, probably unimportant, part of what you wrote... but I've always liked the dressing up. I have to dress fancy for work but it's mostly just slacks and heels. I like the idea of Sunday, the day of worship, being the day that you dress up the most. I've always heard of it as a respectful thing to the Lord. Not that you need to show off to anyone or for him, but that you respect His day so much that you want to look your best and your most presentable. To me, that's wearing a dress (forces me to shave my legs too lol), putting on makeup, actually doing something to my hair, and feeling presentable. We dress up for dinner guests, going out to dinner, going on dates, going to weddings, and going to funerals. Every big and important thing in our life we probably dress up for and Sundays should be big important days in our lives. Granted we may not always dress up for our loved one because we don't need to (and same with Him) and other people might have different meanings about dressing up (just brushing your hair and taking time to think about what to wear might do it for some people) but like you said, He knows what's in our hearts. It's the effort and meaning behind it, like with most traditions. Hope that wasn't too scatterbrained and it actually made sense. :P
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