For as long as I can remember, Easter was a time of getting all dressed up in your best Sunday clothes, going to church with your family, followed by lunch and/or Easter egg hunting with the cousins. Growing up, I knew that Easter was not really about getting gigantic Easter baskets filled with candy and hunting eggs for prizes. Even now, I do these things with my own children. But I have always been taught and teach my own children, that Easter is about celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus.
This last week, I was thinking about all the running around I needed to do before Easter (get Drew a nice shirt or vest outfit, get Lauren a new dress which is usually followed by new shoes, get myself something new that fits and that I haven't worn every Easter for the last 3 years...). But then I began thinking, if I spend all my days leading up to Easter running around like a crazy woman to make sure we all look picture perfect (because there will inevitably be pictures) and spend too much money on things that will be given away within a year, I've missed the point of Easter.
I wonder if we, as regular church-goers, end up turning people away from attending our church because they look at us and think, "Oh, that's the rich church" or "Oh, I'm not fancy enough to attend that church". I wonder if we become so consumed by appearance and material things that we miss what's right in front of us...people!
I think this quote from the book titled Seven, by Jen Hatmaker, explains what I mean, "There is something noble about an assembly of believers in simple clothes, where they lobby isn't filled with people saying, 'You look pretty' to one another. Maybe looking pretty isn't the catalyst for the Spirit's movement. Perhaps an obsessive occupation with dresses and hair and shoes detracts us from the point of the gathering; a fixation on Jesus. When the jars of clay remember they are jars of clay, the treasure within gets all the glory, which seems somehow more fitting."
Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying this is an excuse to pull out the scrubs. I am saying that for me, I spend entirely too much time every Sunday morning stressing about what to wear. How much time do I spend clothing my heart and my spirit with God's love and peace and understanding and wisdom? I'm sure I will wake up this Easter Sunday morning, get everyone looking picture perfect, like I always do, but this year, I'll make sure it's not the priority and I'll make sure I dress up for Jesus from the inside out.
