It really is all about Jesus

Read the Rev. Valerie Loner’s column, and check out Holy Week services listed in the church calendar.

A friend recently posted on Facebook that she was stressing out about Easter. When was she going to find her two young children the perfectly coordinated and photo-worthy Easter outfits? What would she make for the big family gathering that afternoon? Would she find time to clean and decorate her house?

There were a few comments from others commiserating with her. Perhaps I should have as well. Instead, I posted a rather pithy comment: “Don’t worry about Easter. Jesus already did the hard part.” I added the winking emoji so she would see that I intended some humor. I also hoped she would feel less stressed by things that are ancillary on the day we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

But as we prepare for Holy Week, I hear my comment playing in my head, perhaps mocking me a little. It plays between the list of things I need to arrange for the sunrise service; the sermons that need to be written for Good Friday and the two services on Easter morning; the bulletins that need to be completed; and a host of other things.

Don’t worry about Easter?!? How could I not?

I’m not sure who originally said that preachers often preach sermons they themselves need to hear, but that person was wise indeed. And that Facebook mini-sermon is one that I and many others need to remember in the days ahead. Jesus really has already done the hard part. Take a deep breath.

Some years ago, before I had any idea that I would be called into ministry, I invited a dear friend to Easter worship at the church I attended in Atlanta. On the front lawn stood a huge cross, and people brought gorgeous flowers from their gardens to attach to it. By the end of the third service, the cross was laden with blooms. It was glorious and smelled like hope.

My friend had never witnessed anything like this and began to ask questions. “Are the flowers in honor of someone?” I looked at her strangely, thinking the answer was so simple that I must have misunderstood the question.

“Yeeeees,” I replied rather hesitantly. “Jesus.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” she said, and tried asking the question another way. I sort of knew what she was trying to ask, but it kept coming out the same way. And I kept giving the same answer: “Jesus.”

We both started to laugh at how ridiculous the conversation sounded, and she started to try one final time. I shook my head and held up a hand to stop her. “Today is pretty much all about Jesus,” I explained. We’ve laughed about that conversation many times, and every year, one of us sends the other a card reminding us both that Easter is all about Jesus.

Amidst the busy preparations for Holy Week, I need to be reminded of that. Maybe you do as well. Don’t worry about Easter. Jesus already did the hard part.

Thanks be to God.