I saw those words in an article I was reading this week and it made me start thinking about Easter and worship. We live in a day and in a culture that is more interested in spectacular than supernatural. Now, when I speak of supernatural I am talking about the Lord, not our pop culture or society's idea of supernatural.
I am afraid that we have let that attitude bleed into our approach to both Easter and worship. Was the resurrection spectacular? Of course. But is it not far more important that it was and is supernatural? What do I mean by "is"? Because our Lord has made it possible for us to live the supernatural resurrected life of Christ because He lives in and through us. Resurrection victory indwells us in the person of "Christ, the hope of glory". That fact should affect every part of our lives and our worship.
Many in our churches today come to the church looking more for the spectacular than for the supernatural. For some it is a certain kind of preacher, a certain kind of musical style, choir versus a band, a spectacular soloist, and the list goes on and on. But those who are looking for the spectacular rather than the supernatural have let other things take the Lord's place in worship. We don't need spectacular in our worship. We need the power of His manifest presence among us - the supernatural. And guess what? Sometimes the supernatural is not spectacular. If we spend our lives searching for the spectacular, we may miss the supernatural.
We celebrate Easter once a year and yet, in our worship we celebrate the resurrection every week. He is alive and He lives in and indwells us, giving us the ability to live the resurrected life in Him. That not only changes what we do in worship, but should change how we do it. Hallelujah! He's Alive! mjm
