A digital commonplace for a Regular Guy called Charlie Pharis

Category: Easter (page 1 of 1)

Sunday Night Unwind, Easter, 04.08.12…

Another Easter comes and goes. As I’ve done every Easter evening as long as I can remember, I’m unwinding with Mahler’s great Symphony #2, “Resurrection.” It was the first Mahler recording I ever owned, and it has been one of my favorites! On Easter evening, exactly five years ago, I posted this…

the “Resurrection” that Mahler’s Symphony No.2 refers to is not THE Resurrection that we celebrate today. But the Mahler Second is bold, powerful, inspiring.

And that is almost like – but not nearly as bold, powerful, and inspiring as – THE Resurrectionthat we celebrate today!

The last movement – for me, at least – is like Beethoven’s Ninth or even the great Puccini aria Nessun dorma. Even if you say you don’t like classical music or opera, it still has a way of moving you.

Anyway, you get the idea…

So, how’s your Easter been? Anything exciting happen? Anything inspiring? Here’s what’s on my mind as Easter 2012 loses its identity into another Monday…

  • As Easter winds down, I’m reminded of this post from 2005, in which Brad Abare asked, “Why can’t every Sunday be like Easter?” See…next Sunday will be here in seven days. There will be people who need the power of the Resurrection in their lives. And Jesus will still be alive!  Every Sunday ought to be Easter, don’t you think?
  • Our services were a little down today, as they have been since we’ve become tenants in property we used to own. We have to fix that. And quick!
  • More people than usual. Just not a lot more energy.
  • Hey, I thoroughly enjoy reading all my pastor buds’ accounts of huge crowds, multiple conversions, wonderful activities, etc. but I’m just trying to paint an honest picture of what our Easter was like.
  • Oh, we had good preaching! As my hero, E.V. Hill once said: “When I’m at myself, there’s not anyone else I’d rather hear!”
  • I asked the question: “What do you do with a story that has been around for years, and that almost everyone in the world has heard?”Answer: “Re-release it in 3-D!”
  • And with apologies to another of my heroes, Rick Warren, I talked about Easter in 3-D.
  • Hold on…the great second section of the fifth movement of Mahler’s Second just started! Air conducting at its finest! 🙂
  • OK..where were we?
  • So, I just had a vision in my mind of my friends conducting, singing, and playing French horn in the final movement of Mahler’s Second!
  • Anyway, I’m rambling, so it’s time to quit trying to write, get that other cup of coffee, and focus on Mahler!

“Kind of Believing” in the Resurrection…

Did Jesus rise from the dead?

If you can answer that question in the negative honestly, if you can say, “No, he did not; the evidence does not support that conclusion,” then forget about religion. Get on with life, enjoy yourself while you have the chance. But if Jesus did rise from the dead, then the same logic applies. Stop fooling around with Christianity. Make your commitment to Christ and get on with the serious business of living for God. This life is not the end. There is a life beyond.

One day you will stand before your Maker, and you will answer for what you have done in this body. God forbid that you should say, “Well, yes, I kind of did believe in the resurrection. But I, you know, I lived in the world and for the world, and I took my pleasure where I could find it. I acted as if the future would take care of itself, and , well, here I am. I have nothing to offer you. I have been a bad servant.”

James Montgomery Boice, The Christ of the Empty Tomb (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 95.