Christmas and Easter - I've been thinking

I've been thinking about our Easter traditions a lot. Not the Easter bunny, chocolate eggs, etc. I have been wondering for years why we blow the doors off the church with huge pageants, special choruses, special emphasis, and huge outreach efforts on these two days.

Aren't we supposed to be reaching people every day of the year? I know what you are thinking. People who don't typically go to church will actually show up for these two days which reminds me of the fellow who came to church and complained to the pastor:

Pastor, every time I come to church they always sing the same songs: Up From the Grave He Arose, and Away in the Manger. (laugh now!)

This leads me to the my second thought about C & E. Why in the world would we "put on the dog" for these two days when we know that unchurched folk are going to be there? Are we trying to impress them? Are we trying to win them? Well, if this is the case, then pray they don't come back until the next Christmas or Easter because when the dust settles on the next Sunday they are going to be very disappointed, and possibly disillusioned.

What set me off tonight? I just read a blog post over at PastorHacks that resonated with me. Check out what they say:

The danger in giving in to the impulse to do something radically different and humongous big and special at these times is what we communicate both to our community and those we are inviting to become a part of our community. What we subtly communicate (and sometimes not so subtly) to our people is that their job is to invite people who are not in our churches to come on Sunday morning so that the Pastor and the drama team and the worship guy and the Holy Spirit can take a whack at them. (click here to read the rest)

This leads to a third point. In essence we are saying to our folks: You bring them to church and we'll lead them to Christ. It has never been the job of the church to lead people to Christ, unless you define the church as the people that inhabit it. This communicates falsely to people that they are unable to tell people about Christ.

I, for one, was thankful that at NCBC our worship pastor Gary Hoobler incorporated some of the new music into Easter rather than rehashing the same old songs we've sung year after year because it makes us feel good.I don't ever want to anything because it's "tradition" and makes me feel good.

(Please read the disclaimer on the lower right of my blog right now!)

Any thoughts? Tye out.