Resurrected Lives and Fearless Living

I think there's a coherent post somewhere in here but I just don't know what it is.

-I heard today of two very bizarre Easter experiences hosted by churches. One involved a helicopter, 10 thousand people, an egg drop, coupons inside the eggs for large prizes like plasma tvs, and then the ensueing madness. The other involved a woman winning a new BMW during her church's Easter service. To be fair, I didn't hear the why the churches decided to do such events. But my heart was certainly saddened a bit as I couldn't help but wonder if those churches had missed the whole point of the words "Don't be afraid. He is not here. He is risen." What fear were those churches out to conquer? It felt a bit like the fear of not being able to keep up with Joneses was being protrayed as the biggest fear. That the fear of death or a fear of not being captive to sin not really important. I guess more than anything it made me wonder if the biggest message people got from those events was that Jesus died so we could have stuff not that Jesus died so we could live life without fear.

-Our church sevice was packed today. We literally had to seat people in the foyer. There were lots of new faces, people whom I knew but who had never attended before or who have attended maybe once or twice. One of D's soccer players and his dad. A woman I have worked with in the past. The daughter of a friend who has never really seemed interested in the Jesus stuff. Gregg preached on Matthew 28-29 and specifically addressed the fears associated with Jesus' death and resurrection. He also preached on the reactions of many different people to their fears. I am hopeful that for both the new faces and the old that the words "Don't be afraid. He is not here. He is risen." will ring true in their lives. That for people like me who don't fear death but fear other, more trivial things, that we will seek to be fearless for Jesus. That we won't live in a strange place of fearing the opinions of others or fearing failure more than we fear death itself. I pray for others who don't know Jesus in a personal way that they would come to see how faith is about fearless living. That death is not the end but that this reassurance of heaven is not what faith is all about. Regardless of who we are or where we come from, may we live with the Spirit of a Risen Redeemer inside of us, believing that if God is for us, who can be against us and that nothing shall separate us from the love of God, neither life nor death, nor angels nor demons, nor the present nor the future, nor height nor depth. We are His and He is ours; we simply have to come.