The Easter Effect

It's funny how Easter and Christmas bring non-church-going people into church. Is it to please family, maintain some sort of tradition, because they understand that but-for Jesus neither holiday would exist or because they somehow feel guilty or convicted into going? Regardless the rationale, I'm glad they go. I just hope that whether or not they believe the stories about Jesus' birth, death and resurrection they see the hope and peace that those around them who do believe experience and desire that for themselves.

I was reading the newspaper yesterday and came across an editorial by Garrison Keillor. In case you don't know who he is, Keillor is best known for his radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" in which he tells very down-home, folksy tales of fictitious Midwestern town Lake Wobegon. You may be more familiar with the movie knock-off of his radio show that came out a few years ago. Anyway, I can't say I'm a Keillor fan, but the editorial's title, "Keillor: A pagan's thoughts on Easter", intrigued me. However, the title was not nearly so intriguing as Keillor's statements within the article. Here are some I found insightful and thought-provoking:

Holy Week is a good time to face up to the question: Do we really believe in that story or do we just like to hang out with nice people and listen to organ music? There are advantages, after all, to being in the neighborhood of people who love their neighbors. If your car won't start on a cold morning, you've got friends. (So true. Ask anyone in my small group...)

I don't doubt God's existence - there He is - but I doubt His interest in us right now and I haven't the faintest idea what He wants from me.
(I think A LOT of people feel this way - that God is real, but far off and uninvolved in "my" life.)

[Peter] repented. I would too, but not quite yet.

Skepticism is a stimulant, not to be repressed. It is an antidote to smugness and the great glow of satisfaction one gains from being right. You know the self-righteous - I've been one myself - the little extra topspin they put on the truth, their ostentatious modesty, the pleasure they take in being beautifully modulated and cool and correct when others are falling apart. Jesus was rougher on those people than He was on the adulterers and prostitutes.
(I'm still not sure where he was going with this chain of logic though I feel like he's trying to justify his unbelief.)

So I will sit in the doubter's chair for a while and see what is to be learned back there.

And that dismal statement is the tenor which Keillor's article ends on. I find this sad because it means Keillor has not understood or experienced what life in Christ is truly like. However, while he is a self-proclaimed "doubter", I find it encouraging that he isn't sitting still in his doubt. For example, in this same article, he talks about reading the Gospels in order to better understand the whole God thing. I pray he and all who truly seek find what they are looking for.

Any thoughts - either way?

Here are a few pics from our Easter weekend spent at the ranch with JD's parents and grandparents:

Our sweet bunny

Morgan loved the steering wheel of the big John Deere tractor

That's right, we're all wearing John Deere hats on a John Deere tractor :)

Morgan's first ride on the tractor