Looking Back

"It’s just death and resurrection, over and over again, day after day, as God reaches down into our deepest graves and with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead wrests us from our pride, our apathy, our fear, our prejudice, our anger, our hurt, and our despair." -Rachel Held Evans Standing in the aftermath of Easter, it's easy to be cynical as we look at what the church has become. Jesus initiated a beautiful, powerful mission fueled by love and grace. In return, we created the church which seems to be more consumed with self-worship than reverence. With Easter Sunday being a spectacle and Christianity being the mechanism that upholds that spectacle, it's easy to see that something went wrong in the process of walking out the mission that Jesus intended. When we have over-spiritualized simple concepts like love and compassion, no wonder we've lost the plot. For me, the best way to get back on track is to remember when God showed up in my life. Instead of turning Jesus into philosophy, theology, or even something transcendent, we miss the simplicity of the Gospel. As Christians, we are called to be "little Christs;" because that's exactly what the word Christian means. We are meant to be small versions of Jesus that inhabits real space and time to make a difference in the lives of others. I know it's easy to lose that, but we can't. Christianity is simple, but our laziness or lack of desire to live a selfless existence has made it complex. So how do we get it back? Easy, we need to remember those times when people showed up and were Jesus to us. Join me today, as I talk about the aftermath of Easter and the places I've seen Jesus tangibly show up in my life via the actions of others. Let's not over-spiritualize Christianity, when our chief call is to love and serve others. Everything beyond that is gravy. We'll also use Easter as a tool to look for other saints that have walked in the ways of Jesus as we take a glimpse into the life of Rachel Held Evans. She was a force to be reckoned with and wrapped with truth and honest questions. Easter doesn't need to be a rerun of the same story every year. The story of Jesus continues to be lived out by others that follow his ways. It's a beautiful reminder that we are still necessary to be the hands and feet of the Kingdom of God. Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world. www.SnarkyFaith.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.