The Church’s Spring-Time Sale on Salvation
As Christians put extra attention on the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and reign of Christ each spring, I am always curious about the surge of interest in these matters at this time of year. Why does it garner our interest once a year and then fade away?
Of course, some might suggest it is because of the church calendar. Paul wrote to the church at Galatia about such things as church calendars, “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain (Gal 4:10–11).”
To make the Christian life a religion is to rob the Christian of Christ. When organizations invent rites, rituals, and relics they have missed the beauty and simplicity of our Lord and Savior. Why do churches manufacture calendars, celebration days, and clutter the lives of people with pseudo-spirituality?
The answer is power and control. The church says, “We must have this Easter egg hunt, despite its paganism, in order to get people to do what we want them to do.” Using sugar addictions is one means for the church to sweeten her high feast holidays, such as: trunk or treat and Easter egg Sunday.
Frankly, I get exhausted this time of the year, not by participating in these holy shenanigans, but just watching how much energy is put into activities not prescribed in the Bible. I can only imagine what would happen to the American church, if we all ceased from the frenetic fun-fests and simply obeyed God’s Word…all year long.
I am not sure the church would grow numerically, for that belongs to God alone, but there is no doubt we would grow in holiness and the knowledge of Christ. So, when did the Great Commission become such a grueling marketing frenzy?
I am not sure about the exact date for that answer, but I would speculate it coincides with the birth of the modern-day marketing industry. Here is yet again another demonstration of the lack of faith by the American church. We do not believe the Word of God, probably because we live on a steady diet of social media proof texts.
If the devil can fill Christ’s church with unbelievers, they will eventually turn it into a marketing and amusement company. This attracts more goats and the celebration of what their god has done becomes the focus. There is a lust for a bigger and better party.
Meanwhile, somewhere in a small group or a small church, a small band of true believers gathers a couple times each week, all year long, year after year, to open the Bible and learn Christ. They have no “once a year budget blowout” planned because they have no budget line item for non-biblical marketing schemes.
If only the church conceived of holiness as its God-ordained “tool of attraction.” “What is the hope within you, that you go to church on Wednesday night?” is the question men should be asking. “I notice the love you have for one another, even though few of you have anything in common with one another,” should be the sentimental reflection of the unbeliever, being irresistibly drawn to Christ, by His grace alone.
The agency for attraction will always be the Spirit and the Word, not the Easter rabbit and chicken eggs. The special Christian calendar Sunday, named in honor of some middle eastern pagan goddess, attracts the large crowd. For the rest of us, with a faithful pastor — being steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Word and the work of the Lord — the once-a-year marketing extravaganza, promoting an annual spring-time sale on salvation, is a cheap imitation of true Christianity.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
March 24, 2022
