even so in Christ, shall all be made alive

Despite not being a holiday person, I shared last year how much I love Easter. While it may be easier to remember individual Christmases, I’ve been around long enough to complete a Top 5 Easter List. And it’s been WAAAAAY too long since I last posted a Top 5 List.

[For those just joining the program, my Top 5s were a staple of my Xanga days, circa 2004.]

Here we go…

1. The Traditional Easter (Birth-1997) This was the normal Sunday morning service: age-appropriate Sunday School, worship with everyone, Children’s Church, go home. Wednesday meetings were similarly segregated. Easter was the one day of the year where kids spent the majority of the church day with their elders. We opened with a “sunrise service,” which is churchiology for a service before the service, where we sang triumphant hymns and “graduated” from our Sunday School classes. While the grown men were busy making breakfast, we congregated in the basement to get to know those we hadn’t seen for a year. Good times. The part I remember most is after breakfast, where my peers and I would find our new classroom and chill until an adult would arrive. Any level of madness could occur during this period of time, usually at the expense of a younger congregant. Finally, Sunday School and worship as usual -- minus the children’s church.
2. Stairway to Easter (2002) I don’t remember much, but the church employing me jumped to two services that day. The youth pastor convinced his superiors to allow a youth service during the second hour, so long as he encouraged the kids to attend first service with the adults. As an impromptu prayer session broke loose, our worship leader smiled, ad-libbing a soft melody in the background. The kids remained focused; only a couple adults noticed that the Spirit was moving through Led Zeppelin.
3. My Broken Easter (2003) Since St. Mark had not yet finished its new church building, we were allowed to use Bethel College’s fine arts building for our Easter service. It’s crazy that I could experience 24 prior Easter mornings without a breakdown, but somehow the narrative of the cross came alive to me that morning. I checked out from the pastor’s message and began writing a poem about the love of Christ. I had never known anything so beautiful and was moved to a sobbing fit. This response would become more common over the next three years.
4. Easter on the River (2008-2009)My favorite Easter mornings were spent in Frontier Park, along the banks of the Missouri River with nothing but a Bible and my voice. The quietness of Main Street on Easter morning made for a peaceful sunrise over the sparkling stream.
5. Night-night Easter (2010) After working third shift, I needed to race home for some sleep, lest I miss my mother’s cooking. God in His grace and magnificence offered this gift as I approached my car:

Worthy is the Lamb, that was slain!
And hath redeemed us to God by His blood
To receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength
And honour, and glory, and blessing!
Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him
That sittith upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
For ever and ever. Amen.

-- Handel's Messiah #53 (Revelation 5:12-14)