Finding the Way Home
The eNewsletter Archive

Below is the archived version of Marshall Hayden's eNewesletter "Finding the Way Home." If you would like to be added to to mailing list, please send a blank email to evangelism-subscribe@worthingtoncc.org.

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April 2009

"This is not a Test"

It's an actual emergency.

For years now there have been things like the emergency broadcast system. Periodically there will be an announcement on the radio or television, soon to be followed by the sound of a siren or a series of blasts, and then an announcer's voice saying that it has just been a test. If a real emergency were being broadcast we would be directed to a certain station or frequency for further information. After the first few times we have come to believe that this is not real. It's just been a trial of the system to be sure that it works.

It's interesting to see what has happened in the last few weeks. For years now the people who fly from one place to another on commercial airplanes have listened less and less to the mandatory flight instructions that are spoken by a flight attendant or broadcast in the cabin as a recording – seat belt, oxygen mask, float device, and escape route instructions. If someone is trying to listen it is almost impossible. All of the neighbors are continuing their conversations, bored by the routine and convinced that nothing in the commentary will apply to them.

But then a bird strike forced a U.S. Air flight to land in the river; and only the superior skills of the captain and co-captain saved the life of every person on board. And suddenly cabins became quieter during the instructions; and even road warriors were reading the information on the seat-back safety cards. The danger was a reality. It was no longer make-believe.

Recently there have been some outstanding Christian films. "The Passion of the Christ" captured the attention of all of us. Church attendance moved up a bit. Pastoral counselors began to talk with more people. The Biblical images came alive for many in a way that they had not been viewed before. We understand that "The Cross," which is being released right now, has a strong message and is very well done. Realistic looking cinematic techniques have made the newer releases more powerful than even the very good, Biblically sound, movies of some years ago. (Although the Red Sea crossing by Moses and the children of Israel, done in a movie lot in southern California, certainly impressed me when I was a teen-ager).

And the dramatic presentations at Christmas time by our friends over at Grace Brethren Church, and an Easter drama being presented right now, over an almost three week period, by the great Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, are wonderful and profoundly moving. The music presented by our own choir and instrumental ensemble, assisted by the folks in our drama ministry (this Friday and Sunday evenings – "3:16"), will lift our spirits and bring the message of this special season to life.

The message of the cross and the open tomb is incomparably important. And we want to do anything that we can do to drive it deeper into our hearts and compel us to translate the reality of it into our lives. When the drama and the music lead us to rehearse the message and embrace it, it's a great blessing.

My concern is this. If ever we come to see this as a great show, a nice story with a good moral to it (and a first cousin to the silly shows with graphic "immorals" to them that we could see every night on TV) we are in trouble. This is not a test. It's an actual emergency. It's not just a nice story (or a nasty story). It's a matter of life and death, of ultimate victory or loss. The church is not a theater to be visited for quality entertainment and an exercise in imagination. "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead (I Corinthians 15:26)." "Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:57)."

That's the message of Easter. And it's real!