Text: Colossians 3:1-17
Prayer Pointers:
For boldness in telling your Easter story
For domestic missions
WHY do we tell a story that is now two thousand years old?
There are many, many people who would say that this is exactly the problem with Christianity. Clinging to ancient stories first told by unsophisticated, superstitious people is no way to go about life! We know better, we know more than they did, and therefore we will have nothing to do with such antiquated ideas.
The reply to such an idea is that we tell the story because it is the “family” story, and it reminds us, renews us as part of a people. Much like the stories we tell about Grandma or Uncle Hank or Sissy whenever we gather as a family—especially at celebrations and funerals—we tell these stories because they are our stories; they remind us who we are, they tell us how we should act, they unite us in the midst of shared experience.
But that is not the only, or maybe even the most important, reason to tell the story of Easter.
Paul puts it bluntly in verse 3: you have died, and your life is bound up with/hidden with/kept safe with Christ…
The story of Easter is not just about what happened to someone long ago; it is the story of what is happening to me, you, us right now. It is our story. We talk about the Christian life, but we tend to forget it is life! It is the life you and I are living right now. How should we live that life? What are its opportunities? What can this Christ-life that is mine, that is on me and in me, actually do?
So, the Easter story is your story—a unique story of how God came to you when you were at a loss, in over your head, down to your last throw, no hope at all, nowhere left to turn—in other words, dying—and gave you new life. New hope. A new way to be.
Easter is about having your life taken away from you…and then having a new, better life breathed into you. The full implications are still being worked out, but one thing is clear: nothing from that moment on can ever be the same.
Tell your story.
Easter joy ~ Pr. Dave Brooks