Easter Monday... Waiting for Godot?

It is Easter Monday and I am at home, preparing to go to school. I went to Easter services, following three years away from these celebrations. The person that I accompanied is someone quite dear to me; I kept my opinions to myself so as not to offend her. I do not understand why a person as intelligent as she would attend this congregation: the service was at best garish, at worst vulgar. The preacher tried to impress the congregants with his knowledge of Greek and misrepresented the text by committing an error that a first year classicist would not make (ignoring tense, mood, person). He simply missed the point and, more importantly, misrepresented scripture.

Having just blasted the service, I have to – in all fairness – say what I felt was good. The service was well organized. It had an organic structure. It was meaningful to those in attendance. It was well presented, if lacking in substance. It succeeded in appealing to those whose tastes run toward the theatric. Perhaps there was a touch of Sister Aimee in the service?

The frustrating thing for me is that I do love the Christian Church, even its protestant expressions. I have simply come to the sad conclusion that substance in faith will not appeal to the masses. When asked by her son what I thought of the service, I did not want to give any impression of disapproval: “It must have been meaningful to those in attendance,” was the best I could muster. I guess that I was really frustrated that this congregation that is paying big bucks for this service, using state of the art technology, could not even correctly transliterate the Greek.

I miss the liturgy.

I did not understand how the story of the resurrection was told during the service. This is what most concerned me. I am a theologian of the cross, a true Lutheran. I wonder what happened to the story of the women approaching the empty tomb and hearing the angelic question: “Why do you seek the living amongst the dead?”

It is almost as if I did not have Easter. How can I proclaim that He is risen, if I do not confront the empty tomb, the stench of death, and the women running from the tomb with joy?

But I am only a fool...