We all know how the story turns out. Jesus is crucified, then put in a grave. The grave cannot hold him.
It’s a story that has lasted over the centuries, a parable for all times. He who was dead has risen.
But how to tell that story, year after year, and not get stale? And remember: the audience includes regular members as well as occasional attendees.
In preaching about the miracle of Easter, preachers have to be a little miraculous, too. They must stick to the topic that has brought overflow crowds to their sanctuaries while simultaneously hoping to make that message fresh.
It’s almost enough to make a preacher cuss.
Rather than do that, the Rev. Sam Matthews does his homework in the hours leading up to this holiest of Christian days. Matthews, the senior pastor at Marietta First United Methodist Church, is an old hand at this: He’s been in area pulpits since 1971.
“There’s a real mystery to preaching,” said Matthews. “We like to think that the spirit of God has touched you.
“We find that the spirit of God touches you a whole lot better when you’ve done your homework.”
For Matthews, the spirit will be speaking a lot on Sunday. The church will offer five services, beginning at sunrise and running through lunch time.
Each sermon, Matthews said, will hew closely to the others. “People give me 18 to 20 minutes of their lives,” he said. “It’s about a fresh start, a new life,” he said. “It’s the same message: life is not a failure. It’s a new beginning.”
For the Rev. William “Dock” Hollingsworth, this Sunday is like a baseball game.
Make that a baseball game with the bases loaded.
Oh, and this: “It’s the biggest game of the year.”
Hollingsworth, senior pastor of Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, believes the challenge facing every minister is making sure everyone in the congregation appreciates the enormity of the message. Jesus’ resurrection, after all, is central to Christian faith.
A story so big, he said, needs a suitable delivery. “The challenge is making sure you preach it grand enough,” said Hollingsworth, a former professor with the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University.
On some Sundays, a pastor can introduce a topic and continue it a week later. Not at Easter. The pews are full. To borrow a baseball metaphor again, “it’s a one-hit deal.”
There is no better time to reach out to strangers than Easter, said the Rev. Lawrence Young, senior pastor at Cascade United Methodist Church. He’ll be in the pulpit three times, preaching “the greatest love story ever written.”
Among the congregation, said Young, with be the CME’s – an acronym for people who attend church only on Christmas, Mother’s Day and Easter. He welcomes the chance to share Easter with them.
The story of Easter is aimed at everyone in the church, said Young – not just the regulars.
“They may have the idea that people in the church have it right,” said Young, head pastor for less than a year. “The church is full of people who want to get it right.”
Easter Sunday marks the end of a busy week, Paul Berny, a retired Catholic priest in residence at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Alpharetta, wrote in an email. Berny, who still conducts Mass, noted that the night hours preceding Easter Sunday include the option of reading from Jewish scripture as well as from the New Testament. It’s also the night when adult candidates for membership are baptized
And when that is finished, a priest turns his attention to the next morning. “Easter Sunday usually means additional Masses to accommodate the expected crowds, sometimes held at the same time in different venues,” he wrote.
The Rev. Pam Driesell, senior pastor at Trinity Presbyterian in Atlanta, believes the Easter service is a great time to remind all church-goers that the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection is a reason for hope.
“Christmas speaks to our need to know: Is God with us?” Driesell said. “Easter speaks to our need to know: Can God forgive us?”
An ordained minister for 16 years, Driesell does not vary far from the basics of the account of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Why would she? “It’s a great story,” said Driesell.
The biggest challenge: Showing people how a story 2,000 years old still has relevance today. “The story hasn’t changed,” she said. “But people’s lives have.”
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