An Easter Stoy: To Those Who Have Loved in Return

To those who have loved in return.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

The words rang through out the sanctuary, but no one heard them. No, this was another day; another service; everyone was interested in something else. This morning was not any different than any other. Except that this was Easter morning. Still, the congregation had no reason to listen, no real reason to care.

Shawn sat somewhere in the midst of the congregation with his mind on the same thing as everyone else. Breakfast would be coming soon then another service. If he were lucky, this man would be able to sneak out. Maybe then he could get some sleep for he had been up early hiding the eggs for his daughters to find. Another Easter, more cavities, and all too many eggs to hide.

He looked around at the congregation around him to see what other people were doing. He could see the kids fidgeting waiting to get out of the church as quickly as possible. He could hear a baby crying, an elder coughing, and saw a deacon snoozing. Each face was familiar as his own having seen each of the faces every week for the past year or so. He had started coming to church out of his wife’s hopes to bring morals and roots to their family. Shawn though, if not for his wife would have never come. Although he loved his wife dearly, he felt like the church was the last place he wanted to be.

The service moved forward and Shawn found himself reflecting on the past year. In the past year the church had been through a lot and it had been all he could do to continue on the road. At church everyone seemed somehow put together with smiles on their faces. One thing that Shawn appreciated was that the community at this church was strong. People were willing and ready to share their heartaches during prayer requests. This was one of the small moments everyone’s put together selves seemed real for a small while. It was here that Shawn maybe wondered if God did in fact care, but he was quickly reminded that God didn’t care when the very person the church was praying for would pass away.

In the past year the church had seen a lot of this. The congregation had seen two fathers pass, one grandfather, several aunts and uncles, and a few more grandparents. The church had also witnessed wars in Africa where their sister congregation was located. Money was donated and meals were given out to help the church be what it needed to be. Shawn, if he were to admit it though, didn’t believe in it. Everyone had a bleeding heart for certain causes and the church was no different than any other organization that chooses its battles to fight.

Shawn’s focus was then broken by the New Testament reading:

“¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

Foolishness, Shawn thought. If God truly loved us no one would die. If God truly loved us then he would come down himself and save this world from itself. As the thoughts laced his mind a different voice seemed to enter into his thinking.

But I did come down myself.

More of the reading entered into Shawn’s thoughts:

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.”

Shawn’s thoughts once again took over. I never saw Jesus, how could I testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Shawn couldn’t testify to anything. He had never been one who was interested in the divine. Religion was just another cultural image brought about by people who had probably hallucinated. And if Shawn was at all correct, he wondered if many people in the church where here for image, consoling, and tradition. There couldn’t be any fact in this.

But Shawn’s thoughts would not deter the message.

“God’s love was here with the beginning of time. The world was made out of the Lord’s love and through that same love Jesus Christ was sent to us to atone for our sins.”

Shawn was getting irritated. Every week the pastor had something similar to say about God’s redeeming voice throughout time. And every week Shawn had come away with his doubts only furthered; knowing good and well that history was laced with war, hatred, and certainly no trace of love. No love could abide in any individual of this world. The lack of feeling loved only affected Shawn’s judgement. The winter had been all to long and Shawn had seen his own grandma pass away.

Although this had changed Shawn’s plans his image of God had only become rougher. He hadn’t known his grandma very well. Death though, often has a way of telling the living a bit about the deceased. Often more than the living want to know.

Over his time in his home town, a small town in the United States not much different from any other farming town, he had learned quite a bit. He learned that his grandma had enjoyed Christmas music very much. He had learned that she loved dancing so much that when she had lost her dancing partner it really had brought her down.

The thoughts reminded Shawn that he was not the only one in the congregation that had experienced loss. He realized that many of the people who had seen loved ones were far more affected by their losses than he was over his grandma. Shawn wondered for a moment if those people had felt grace. As if the word grace called up the preacher to interrupt his thoughts; once again Shawn heard the preacher’s voice boom yet again:

“But on this day we celebrate an ultimate love. We celebrate what in and of itself is a love far greater than any we could ever understand. On this day we celebrate what hope we do have that is found in God’s own Son. That hope and love is found in not what we see in this world, but what Jesus Christ did. He lived a sinless life, died a prisoners death, and on the third day he rose again. This is not another fictional story for the ages, but God’s grace shown to the world through the death and resurrection of his own Son. In this way, we know love. In this way, we know hope.”

Shawn let the words seep in. For a brief moment Shawn’s heart welled up with the realization of the message being directly contrary to his every thought. His next thought was not his own, as if something deep inside was speaking for him: What hope you have is not your own. What good there is to cling to I have given. All grace and love comes through the Father.

In the next moment Shawn knew that the others in the congregation, whether they knew it or not, needed to hear this message as much as he needed to. Every moment of the past year had been chilling, depressing, and simply cold to the core. Even while he had been at his own grandma’s funeral he had tried to reject God. When his uncle had reflected upon his experience in seeing Shawn’s grandma go; Shawn had tried to discount the story as coincidence. For she could not have literally picked up her mat and gone up to see her Savior. No, it was simply her time to go. Shawn had further thought that it was simply cruel for those who had passed to have done exactly this. Most of them were too young or for some the timing was completely wrong. The past year had seemed to be cruel.

Once again though, the preachers message hammered home:

“This past Thursday our church remembered the darkest moment of Christ’s life. His realization that God had forsaken him, leaving him for death. Christ may or may not have known about God’s divine plan for His son, all we know for sure is that Christ accepted the cup given to him. I don’t think this matters though; no, I think that Christ experienced despair in his last moments. In the same way many of us have experienced despair in the past year. We have seen many of our congregation go with passing of the seasons. We all have endured the -40 degree winter and come out the other side wondering what it was worth. But even when the cold comes over us, even when the rain falls, even when the storm comes we can be sure of one certain thing: We have all been washed by the blood of Christ in our greatest time of need. We all can hope in the fact that God sent his son to live that sinless life, die that prisoner’s death, and on this day: Easter morning in which we all gather here, Jesus rose again so that none of us would die, but have eternal life.”

For the first time Shawn looked up past the preacher to see Jesus leaning against a rock looking up to the heavens. The stained glass had been there all year long, but Shawn had been one of the many of the congregation who had been distracted, looking to every other part of the world to get him through.

As Shawn walked out with his family he looked the preacher in the eye to shake his hand. Shawn thanked him for his message. Even the preacher, who Shawn had known relatively well from softball games over the summer, had something unusual to say on this day: “You my friend are forgiven and free. By God’s grace alone we live to die so that we can experience an eternity with Christ our Savior. Through his blood we are sanctified and forgiven. Through Jesus Christ resurrection, we can truly celebrate Easter.”

Shawn looked to his wife with tears in his eyes. For the first time since his wife had convinced him to come to church to have his family learn about morals, he realized that Church and religion had more to say about life than anything else. On this particular Easter, Shawn realized that even though history was laced with war and hatred, it was also laced with strange incidents of unity, redemption, and forgiveness. Shawn knew deep down that Christ’s life was not just another fictional story, but the redeeming love and atonement of God through out history.