In a few days, it will be the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the RMS
Titanic. The loss
of
the Titanic was a huge tragedy and the deadliest peacetime
maritime disaster in history. As I have been observing the media over
the past few days, there has been a lot of attention and coverage
commemorating the 100 year anniversary. There are documentaries, movie
re-releases, memorial cruises and the list goes on.
I find it interesting that as a society, we choose this particular event
(and others like it) as something significant to remember and celebrate. I'm
not saying it isn't worth remembering, but I wonder how we judge if something is worth remembering or celebrating? How do we
measure this importance?
We have just celebrated and remembered Easter,
but I was amazed at how quick we were willing to forget the importance and
significance of the season. For the first time,
football was played on Good Friday, retailers opened their
doors on Easter Sunday and
Monday.
We happily commerate the titanic, but let the importance and significance of Easter
and Christmas fall by the way side. As followers of Christ we have been told
not to force our beliefs and opinions on people, and as a result we have
forgotten and abandoned our
First Love.
It seemed to me that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the
furthest thing from our minds, that somehow we were more concerned about being
kept entertained or filling our lives with more 'stuff'. We didn't allow ourselves to
re-find the Cross and be made new through the resurrection
. As a society, we
weren't interested in the
Good News.
During the first Easter, Jesus called His
followers to actively
remember and celebrate His impending suffering and
climactic victory on the third day. Not only was
Jesus connecting with His disciples, but His disciples of all time
. It was a call
to enter into something important with Him. The Greek word (
Anamnesis)
that we translate as remember, has both sacrificial and memorial aspects to it.
So we are called to remember
and sacrifice at Easter, but how as a
society are we doing this?
How as a body of Christ are we doing this?
How
individually are you doing this?
It is important to remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ every year to reconnect with our First Love. But this
Anamnesis
should also be seen in our daily lives
. It
should seen in how we speak and interact
with others
. It should be in how we love,
forgive and sacrifice ourselves for others, not just individually but as a
community, and as a society.
We are headed towards the iceberg of allowing all that is important and
precious to us to simply fade away
.
Are we going to hit it?
Be Blessed
The Kingdom isn't hard.
