The conspiracy of the cross

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I want to keep Easter going. I want to stay focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I want to keep having the Lord’s Supper every night so we can remember Christ’s death until He comes back. I want to hang around the empty tomb for as long as possible, and remember the new covenant in His blood that has not only forgiven us, but empowers us daily with His Holy Spirit.

I want to remember that church I wrote about in Connecticut that has a cross permanently grounded in the front of the platform so that the pastor, the worship team, and anyone who addresses the congregation from the platform has to stand behind the cross and speak to the people through the cross (and be careful not to strut around too much when you speak so as not to bump into it!).

I don’t want Easter to ever be over. I want to live in Easter. I want to live on the other side of the cross — where we have just been forgiven (isn’t that always the case?) and the power of God is busting out all over the place because of the presence of the Holy Spirit and resurrection power.

I want the big news to always be the passion of Jesus Christ. Not the culture wars, or abortion, or family values, or saving America, but where the death and resurrection of Jesus is the big deal, and saving people for eternity is the whole point, and the only conspiracy theory that really matters is the conspiracy of the cross of Christ to overrule the old covenant law and bring in the fulfillment of the law of love and grace.

On Easter week everything stops and we focus on this, and pastors cease politics to preach the gospel — that’s what you do on Easter Sunday — because that’s when people who never come to church, come to church. So I say, keep it up. Let’s make every week Easter week. We need to, because there may not be that many weeks left.

This entry was posted in Easter week, gospel of welcome, grace turned outward and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to The conspiracy of the cross

  1. kellief4 says:

    YES to this!!!
    “I want the big news to always be the passion of Jesus Christ.”
    The world would be changed in ways we can never imagine if this was the big news!

  2. John A Fagliano says:

    I think you’re right about keeping the focus on Easter. Sometimes it’s so early it’s in March. Other years it’s not till the 20th of April. This was one of the years it seems it was over and done too soon but so what? It shouldn’t matter to us when they put it on the calendar. Let’s make all of spring Easter season! The whole story is too important to let it pass so quickly. There is never too much that we can learn from it all.

    The chocolate bunnies and eggs and coloring kits are all being wiped off the shelves now and maybe that’s a good thing because they were distractions to begin with. The questions we had this year (just like last year) are no longer the focus. “Should we go to church? How full should the building be? Should we meet outside? Should we have family gatherings? None of that can distract us now either so I say let’s keep Easter going all through April! It’s not about having a holiday or going to church anyway. It’s about what God has done to our hearts. So yes John, keep on writing about the death and resurrection. He is risen!

  3. Pingback: Coloring eggs | John Fischer The Catch

  4. Audie Setser says:

    John, Is there any chance that your book “On A Hill Too Far Away” will ever be available as an ebook? I love that book but would like to have a digital version.

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