“Christ
is risen!”
“He
is risen indeed!”
Social media has its downsides,
and they are many, but it also has some pretty cool upsides. One of my favorite things about social media happened
yesterday, as Christians all over my newsfeeds shared the traditional Easter
greeting with each other. One would post, “He is risen!” Then many would
respond, “He is risen indeed!” All day,
all over social media this was repeating, and it is glorious. That declaration expresses
our shared hope, joining myriad Christian brothers and sisters together in precious
communion and shared faith that has continued and been passed down across the
centuries, it joins us with the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before and
will join us with the generations of believers to come. This
is our hope. Christ is risen! He is risen
indeed!
One of my very favorite things
about Easter is joining with my fellow believers, my church family, my brothers
and sisters in the faith, as we sing with joy about the foundation of our faith
and rejoice in the Resurrection, which, honestly is what EVERY Sunday is celebrating,
but in a very focused way on Easter Sunday. Yesterday was no exception. Singing songs that affirm our faith, praying
in expectant hope and faith, listening and responding to the Word faithfully
preached, Sundays are vitally necessary refreshment, and yesterday is still
singing in my heart.
But I do have one, very gentle
thought I can’t help pondering today. I was raised in a Southern Baptist
Church, so I’m no stranger to it. We have not been members of an SBC church in
a long time, though, having joined other solid, Bible churches the past many
years, and, truth be told, I didn’t really ever expect to be a member of an SBC
church again. Lesson learned, never say never, and we found the right church
for us here where we live now is a precious Baptist church and we love our
family here, and are grateful to be members of this little church, thankful for
the rich community and faithful teaching and weekly refreshment we find here. However,
yesterday something happened that sort of reminded me how weird we Baptists
are. The worship leader welcomed the
congregation yesterday morning by declaring, “He is risen!” To which I and a
few others I’m guessing, though I didn’t hear them, said, “He is risen indeed!”
Mostly what I heard was a bunch of jumbled, “Amens,” and, “Yes,” and even a “Hallelujah,”
or two, all of which are definitely appropriate responses and heartfelt
emotions, but a part of me found it jarring that the congregation didn’t seem
to know the traditional response, the response that millions of Christians were
responding all over the world yesterday. I love my Baptist people. We love
Jesus, truly, deeply, we love His word and teach it well. But having been a
part of different biblical Christian traditions recently, I can’t help but feel
like we are poorer and we miss something by being so fiercely autonomous that many
of us are basically ignorant of ancient traditions and we seem to have an
almost allergic disdain for knowing anything about the rich beauty of the creeds,
which were a product of, sometimes quite literally, the blood, sweat, and tears
of earlier generations of believers to carefully set out and guard the right
understanding of the biblical doctrines of the faith.
Part of the wonder of
Christianity is that we are the Body of Christ. When we read that wonderful
passage in Hebrews about the great cloud of witnesses who surround us, it’s a
reminder that we are joined with the great invisible church, the saints who
have loved Christ through the ages, those who have gone before us and passed the faith down to us and from whom we can learn so much, those faith filled brothers and sisters around
the world today, and those who will follow behind us in future generations until Jesus returns, the saints
from all ages with whom we will join around the throne with our gaze fixed on Christ,
our voices joining with the multitudes from every language, tribe, and tongue
in singing, “Worthy is the Lamb!” for eternity. We really need to be careful
not to be so autonomous in our church vision that we forget that the Body of
Christ is bigger than just our local church, we are part of something awesome
that spans the ages and the nations. Christ is building His Church, and we get
to be part of it, our little local congregation is a part of the multitude of living stones
that Jesus is raising up, and we do well to remember and appreciate all who
have gone before us, to appreciate the rich heritage we have in the faith, open
up our eyes and learn from those who have gone before us, appreciate what they
have contributed to the rich heritage of faith, and turn our eyes to our Savior in wonder,
love, and praise.
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
“Therefore,
since we are surrounded, by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay
aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2
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