The Sunday After Easter

No, there’s no official name for the Sunday after Easter on the Christian calendar. But today sure seemed like a special day. Maybe we’ll call it “the first Sunday after Easter.” After a rich time of worship and prayer, we heard some powerful testimonies from the Columbus Teen Challenge ladies of how Christ has set them free, healed brokenness and given them new life! They told us fresh examples of signs, wonders and miracles like is mentioned at the end of Mark 16 … following the story of Christ’s resurrection. How appropriate, this first Sunday after Easter, to be reminded what it looks like to live out a life with resurrection power! If the same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, He must have a purpose for that power beyond simply attending church and waiting for heaven. The end of Mark 16 (last Sunday’s text on Easter) tells us that purpose: Christ rose from the dead so that we could partner with His resurrection power to a) revive the church and b) reform the culture.

With the founder of Teen Challenge, David Wilkerson, passing away this week, we were reminded of what had been accomplished through one country preacher willing to walk out a life in the resurrection power of Christ. The ladies testified and sang, we cried, clapped, cheered then prayed together. We shared a meal among our missions committee and board and the Teen Challenge friends prepared by one of our members. What a rich time of fellowship.

Then I went (with our team pastor, Amber) to the Cleveland City Mission to participate in the Bible read-a-thon where the entire Bible will be read aloud from today through Thursday leading up to the National Day of Prayer. Why did I care about this? A few reasons… City Mission is one of our supported partners and it’s a joy to participate in anything they host. Reading the Bible aloud is significant even if there’s no audience because of how it impacts the unseen world. City-wide transformation is fed by unity among Christians so to participate in something bigger than us outside my “tribe” is important to me.

Today was one of the most satisfying Sunday’s I’ve experienced in a long time. I have a sense that God was pleased/glorified as people praised Him today and walked in Resurrection Power. This “first Sunday after Easter” was a special day. I think we should make it an official holiday!