Resurrection Sunday

To all those who are planning on becoming ministers -- and based on who is following this blog, its both of my readers -- what a fantastic challenge you have ahead of you. What I'm referring to, of course, is preaching on Easter.

Now, when you're a lowly associate (which just means you get less pay for doing extremely varied and sometimes difficult things) you don't have to worry about this in the least. No senior minister is going to let anyone else get into the pulpit on what is the most important Sunday of the year. But someday, somehow, you will be asked to preach an Easter sermon. No preassure.

Any given Sunday you will have people in the pew who know more about the subject than you do, people who think they know something but aren't sure exactly what they know and people who don't have a clue. To whom do we preach? Well we're preaching to them all, but to whom do we target our thoughts? I've always opted for those who don't have a clue, but it must be nuanced, because you don't want to bore those who are more than likely the pillars of the church (i.e.-- those who could make your life really miserable should they choose to do so.) It's a task each and every Sunday. But Easter Sunday -- well this is the big time, since this is one of the 2 Sundays of the year that some "Christians" show up within the walls of a church (excluding weddings and funerals.)

So what exactly can you say? And what do you say if your own theology is in a state of flux most of the time? (I wish this weren't true; it would be easy to be black and white about these things, but I live in the land of gray.) It's a treat to see what gets put down on paper after study, prayer and reflection. But it's always a challenge.

It's all on paper now for this coming Sunday. I'm always open for something new though. Who knows.... maybe I'll learn something between now and then!

Have a great Easter!