Resurrection, Inc.

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Go to this guy's church on Easter and you could win A NEW CAR!         
This Easter  Bay Area Fellowship of Corpus Christi TX is giving away over a million dollars in cash and prizes to people who attend worship at one of their 8 worship services.  You can read a bit more about the story HERE.  Most or all of the merchandise (anything from skateboards to flat screen TV's) has been donated, including the cars.  Pastor Bil Cornelius (dude, spell your name like all the other Bill's in the dang world), claims that it's all a big illustration that teaches us about Resurrection and the most important giveaway of all... Eternal Life by believing in Jesus.

Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in California is holding their Easter services at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.  If you go on their website you will see that the "tickets" for one of the services are all gone, but there is still time to get in on the one that is only 85% full.  Their services can be watched live on the Internet or on your iPhone and will be broadcast on Sirrius and XM satellite radio and probably on TV and a thousand other places, too.  Apparently, Pastor Rick is going to share his big vision for Saddleback Church on Easter Sunday and the Jonas Brothers (I'm not making this up) are the special musical guest.  

If you come to my Church on Sunday morning there won't be any giveaways, and I don't have the juice to get even a distant cousin of the Jonas Brothers to come and play.   I also don't have the stones to try to make the vast rhetorical leap from new car giveaways to the event of the Resurrection and what it means not just for me, but for all of Creation.  I guess the reason why I will never be the pastor of a mega church is because I really don't want to trade my soul for a few more butts in the pew. 

Who am I kidding?  I will never be a pastor of a mega church because I'm PRESBYTERIAN.  We embrace change and growth about as easily as one might embrace a cactus.

I know I won't have people writing news articles about my church's Easter service, nor will there be any TV cameras there.  Nick Jonas will not be on the chancel of my Sanctuary singing his wholesome heart out whilst teenage girls squeal in holy delight. 

Instead, it will just be us... the broken, the messed up, the proud, the weary, the wanderers, the losers, the homeless, the unemployed, the hard-hearted, the sick, the tired, the least... the forgiven. 

And the Easter people that gather with me on Sunday will all have two things in common: 

None of us will win a car.

All of us desperately need to feel Resurrected.  

God, save us from your followers, and revive us once more.

If you want to read more about the way that Christ has been reduced to a commodity check out this book:

Comments

  1. Reg MillsApril 6, 2010 at 8:51 AM

    Leon,

    I loved your blog, Resurrection, Inc. I don't seem to find time to do my own blog, but I sure liked yours. Thanks!

    PS: I couldn't agree with you more or identify with your thoughts more, unless of course I was Presbyterian. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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