anticipation

Apparently Easter is upon us.

Funny how this MASSIVE celebration can just sneak up on you. We have grown pretty lazy when it comes to Easter. Christmas is easy to look forward to and to celebrate, not to mention the fact that we don't have to promote Christmas at all, every department store and mall already does it for us. Well, we complain about how they do it, but we certainly aren't upset when people come to our Christmas Eve services, right? We do Advent services and in many cases dedicate a whole month to prepare for Christmas.

Easter, though...oh, Easter. We casually wake up one morning to realize that Easter is upon us and we have done little to prepare. It is not all our fault, though. The Easter section in Target is much smaller than the displays they use for Christmas. Not to mention the fact that it is crammed in the back corner and there is no Easter music being played over the sound system. Oh, how different it would be if we could somehow create a catchy jingle with the words of Amazing Grace. Then we could be in the "Easter Spirit!"

And don't even get us started about the mall! No Easter decorations except that creepy rabbit? The one that makes all the kids scream? Sure, white linen dresses and gray suits go on sale a week before Easter Sunday, but how are we to notice without the music and the radio contests? And what about the lack of TV commercials? Like the Cadbury bunny and Reese's peanut butter eggs are enough? How do they expect us to anticipate Easter without commercials about baskets and dyed eggs and pink ties!?

Again, we have become quite lazy. We no longer anticipate Easter because we no longer know how to. Without extreme marketing and catchy jingles, we have lost our ability to recognize significance in anything. Somehow, the pursuit of relevance has taken the place of our pursuit for God. So much so that we only pursue what others tell us to pursue. If we see enough of it on TV, or hear enough of it on the radio, it becomes important...

significant...
meaningful...
desireable...
worth anticipating.

The old Christian practice of Lent has been mocked by many in recent times. I wonder if they were actually on to something.

40 full days of anticipation.
40 days of remembering.
40 days of meaning.
40 days of longning.

We have become lazy. May that never be said of us again.

May we value that which is important. May we anticiapte the Empty Tomb.