Easter 2020: The Great Reset

April 8, 2020, marks the first day of the Jewish Passover. Passover is a celebration of the exodus of God’s people from Egypt and their years of slavery. 

This Sunday is Easter. Christians will remember the day that is the foundational moment of our faith. Easter is the day when God “reset” his covenant relationship with his people. 

Easter 2020 could mark another “reset” in our faith, if we are called to God’s purpose for the day. 

Are we praying for a Passover or joyfully confident in God’s plan to redeem? 

Praying for a Passover 

I wish I knew what to place on the doorframe so that this virus would pass over my home and every person’s home during these days. I’ve prayed for the Lord to allow us that kind of Passover. 

But, I have a quiet answer for those prayers. Jesus reminds me, “This world is not your home.” 

We have been praying that God would allow the COVID-19 virus to pass over our homes. But is there a more dangerous but less noticed virus that has been infecting our lives? 

A lot of people will open their eyes on Sunday morning, and, because they don’t have a church building to visit or a group of people to join, they will not experience Easter. Another group will feel like they missed Easter because they couldn’t wear a new dress or tie or go to a buffet and egg hunt. 

Could it be that Easter 2020 is about that virus? 

Not the virus that is costing people their earthly lives, but the virus that is costing people their eternity? 

Praying for Easter at home 

In Egypt, the final plague of death passed over every home that had placed the blood of the lamb on the doorframe. Each year, Jewish families turn their homes into a place of worship. They shop for and carefully prepare a Seder meal. The family members gather, and the head of the family is the rabbi for the evening. They remember when God saved his people from the plague of death and gave them freedom. The Jewish people bring the worship of God into their homes. 

Could it be that Christians this Easter need to learn from that example? 

How will you prepare for Easter 2020? 

How will you bring Easter worship into your homes? 

Parents can step up and lead the family in remembering the first Easter. Scripture can be read by all who are able. Prayers can be prayed. Questions can be answered. Songs can be sung. The rich truth of the resurrection of Christ can be brought into your homes. 

Could it be that Easter 2020 is a reset for every Easter to come? 

As you bring worship home, you can create family time that is a holy time. Easter 2020 might become one of the most important spiritual “resets” in your family’s memory. 

Don’t just think about it: make plans to accomplish Easter 2020 as a family. 

Praying for an eternal reset

The first verse I ever memorized was Romans 8:28, and it has been a part of my entire life: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” 

The Passover meal Jesus shared with his disciples was filled with trauma. Scripture says, “As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26–27). 

The days that followed were desperate days for the disciples. Jesus was arrested, tried, and sentenced to die. Jesus was tortured and then hung on a cross. Jesus died and was buried in a borrowed tomb. 

“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). That psalm of praise was ultimately fulfilled by the first Easter. Jesus was resurrected. His life had conquered death and his sacrifice provided salvation for all those who would believe. That first Easter would usher in the reset of God’s covenant relationship with his people. 

Remember: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). 

How does the Lord want you to spend your Easter Sunday worship time this year? 

Could it be that the Lord has planned Easter 2020 to be a reset for his people? 

We know God plans to work things for our good. We just need to be called to “his purpose” for this year’s Easter celebration. 

Praying for your Easter “reset” 

Romans 8:28 means we can “know” that God is going to use this unique time in our lives for our greater good. It is likely we will look back on these days, grateful for all that we learned about the Lord and about one another. 

It’s Easter week. We are reminded that the resurrected Christ is the promise and guarantee of our resurrection, if our faith is in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

God took the traumatic moments of that Passover celebration and worked them together for the good of everyone at the table. The only exception was Judas, who refused to be called to God’s purpose. Jesus was born so that he could die. Easter was God’s good purpose and plan. Easter is our Passover. 

This year, I am praying that the viruses will pass over our homes. One can take an earthly life. However, the great virus is the one that can rob a person of life eternal. 

Easter was God’s reset of the Passover meal. We now know that meal is about the body and blood of Jesus. 

Easter was God’s reset of the covenant relationship. We know that those who believe on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. 

Easter 2020 can be a reset of your family’s celebration. God knew that Sunday, April 12, 2020, would come. He has promised to work all things together for our good. 

Will you be called to “his purpose” this Sunday? 

May your Easter 2020 be a great blessing to you and your family. 

“He is risen.” 

“He is risen, indeed.” 

Ask God Why

The trees have budded and the Texas bluebonnets are beautiful.

Sometimes I look out my window and forget about the fact that I’m stuck behind it.

I love this time of year, usually.

I wish we had never heard of COVID-19, and I wish it could have come to Texas in January rather than March and April.

Why now?

I’ve always tried to view the happenings in the world from the perspective of the One who created it. And, I think one of the best ways to find God at work is to study his timing.

Why is America dealing with COVID-19 during the Lenten season?

How will our Easter season be transformed this year because of a virus? 

February 26 was Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance and preparation for the Lenten season. If we had known the Lord would ask us to give up all that we have been forced to give up during this Lenten season, would we have prayed with greater resolve?

We should be asking God, “Why now?”

Why this?

If we had realized our Ash Wednesday commitment this year would include these difficulties, worries, fears, and inconveniences, would these days seem more like a sacrifice to God than a nuisance to us?

We didn’t know, but God did.

Maybe it’s a good time to revisit our Lenten commitments and remember the verse that says, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15).

This Lenten season is not a normal one. We should ask God why. 

Could it be the sacrifice we are called to make this year is a sacrifice of praise?  

Most of us have a great deal to praise God for during these days. 

While the rest of the world speaks words of fear, we can speak words of hope and peace. 

While the rest of the world speaks words of blame, anger, frustration, and opinion, we can all “offer up a sacrifice of praise to God” which is “the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” 

Did you decide to “give up” something on February 26? 

Was it what God asked you to give up or what you decided to give? 

Our answers will come by asking God, “Why this?” 

Why not?

For a nation that has been abundantly blessed, these seem like difficult days.

Granted, they are absolutely more difficult for some than others. At the time of this writing, none in my family are sick, hungry, or suffering, so I don’t have that level of worry. This blog post is written for the circumstances most of us are living with.

Are you becoming news-weary? Family-weary? Work-weary?

One of my favorite Facebook posts contained the words: “And just like that, prayer and spanking are back in schools #Homeschool 2020.” As a former school teacher, I had to laugh. I agree with the person who said, “Teachers should be asking for a raise right now.” 

Apparently, we shouldn’t plan on hearing a lot of good news for the next several weeks. But there is good news that people should be hearing, especially from us.

The word gospel literally means “good news,” and Christians don’t have to wonder how to define our “sacrifice of praise” during this Lenten season. Scripture defines the “fruit of our lips” this way: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

Our news isn’t just for a season, it’s eternal.

When we have the opportunity to share the gospel, let’s say, “Why not?”

Why sacrifice?

Romans 12:1–2 are favorite verses for most of us. Read them today with a corona perspective. 

Those cherished verses say, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

If you look at those verses from the perspective of our current times, what is God asking of you for this Lenten season? 

If you had known on Ash Wednesday what you know today, how would you have prayed?


You can pray that prayer now. 

You will know on Easter Sunday what you can’t know today. 

What can you be completely certain of now? You can share those certainties now. 

A sacrificial life, nonconformed to this world, will be spiritually blessed. 

You can be transformed by a mind that has been renewed. And you can know the good, perfect, and acceptable will of God. 

That is why we present ourselves to God as living sacrifices. 

Ask God Why

We can ask God why, but we will never fully understand. We see through dim glass and we will have to wait for our eternal lives to gain full knowledge of God.

In the meantime, we know enough because we have what we need to know.

Let’s pray the ancient words that have strengthened God’s people for countless generations: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:33–36). 


Those sacrificial words of praise can be ours. 

Maybe that is the most important answer for our whys.

A Hushed “Hosanna”

Have our hosannas been hushed?

Monday’s news headlined Tiger Woods and Game of Thrones, and the reporters had words of praise for both.

Palm Sunday’s hosannas didn’t make the news, but don’t be discouraged. Maybe our hosannas are more effective when they are delivered quietly and personally, with praise. The shouts of praise on Palm Sunday didn’t change Jerusalem’s culture, and our shouts probably won’t change the culture today.

The word hosanna means “Praise God and his Messiah, we are saved.” The people shouted “hosanna” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The city was crowded with Jewish pilgrims who had traveled to the temple for Passover. But their shouting was short-lived.

Everyone, including the disciples, hushed their hosanna in fear—or in favor of—popular opinions on Friday.  

How should we share our hosannas today?  

Christians celebrate Palm Sunday, grieve Maundy Thursday, reverence Good Friday, and rejoice on Easter Sunday. Every day of Easter week has hosanna as this theme: “Praise God and his Messiah, we are saved.”

Should we “shout” that message to the world, or quietly offer that truth to someone who will listen?

In your experience, how did you come to know Jesus as your Messiah?

If shouting hosanna on Sunday was an effective plan, Jesus wouldn’t have been crucified on Friday.

The women arrived at the tomb and the body of Jesus was gone. The angel told them not to be alarmed, Jesus was risen. The angel said, “But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:7–8).

The angel didn’t tell the women to run through the streets shouting the truth about Jesus. He said, “Go tell the disciples.” They were the people who were prepared to listen.

If shouting about the resurrection would have been effective, the angel would have instructed the women and the disciples to shout, “Hosanna, praise God and his Messiah, we are saved.”  

God could have filled the streets with his angels shouting praise. Instead, the angel told the women to send the disciples to Galilee and Jesus would meet them there.

Jesus appeared to two of them on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35). He appeared to seven of the disciples after they had been fishing, unsuccessfully, all night. Jesus told them to cast their net out and they pulled in a huge catch. He even cooked them breakfast (John 21:1–14). Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room and they ate together.  

But, Jesus never told his disciples to run into the streets and shout about his resurrection.

Christians became the message of Easter  

Jesus took his disciples to the Mount of Ascension and told them they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came and they would become his witnesses as a result (Acts 1:8). And those disciples began a movement that changed the world.  

Our witness isn’t in the words we shout. It is in the person we become when we are filled with his Spirit.  

Hosanna is the message  

“Praise God and his Messiah, we are saved.”

Our lives shout our hushed hosanna to people today.  

The apostle Paul described the power of a Spirit-led life this way: He told the believers to live pure lives and love one another. Then Paul wrote, “Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one” (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12).

Our hosanna has been hushed—not by the news media, but by the Holy Spirit.

The shouts of Palm Sunday didn’t change the world; Easter did. The truth about Jesus was revealed in the hushed hosannas of those who were filled with and empowered by the Spirit of his resurrected Son. Their lives were changed, and that will always be the truth of Easter.

Who needs to hear your hushed hosanna today?

This is a great week to preach that message with your life and with your love. Let’s allow the Spirit of the resurrected Christ to quietly “shout” our Easter praise.

Hosanna. Praise God and his Messiah, we are saved.

Wynonna Judd: Behind the Fame

Fame is a weak support to lean on

A friend came up to me at Bible study and said she had just attended an event that included a concert with Wynonna Judd. My friend sent me the link to one of the country singer’s songs, “These Are the Things That I Lean On,” and encouraged me to listen to the lyrics.

The first line of the song is “Psalm 23 when I’m scared to death.”

Wynonna Judd has been in the spotlight since the 1980s, when she and her mom became famous as the country duo The Judds. Interestingly, Judd isn’t their real last name.

When Wynonna was born, her last name was Ciminella. Wynonna never knew her father. And, Wynonna, her mom, Naomi, and her sister, Ashley, had rough lives in their early years. In fact, at one point, they didn’t even have indoor plumbing.

Wynonna Judd’s fame brought significant change to her life. Her quick temper and outbursts were the subject of tabloid news as well as her three marriages. She would be the first to say that a significant part of her famous reputation was as the edgy, often reckless daughter of Naomi Judd.

Fast-forward to her life today and you understand the journey that has her singing songs like “These Are the Things That I Lean On.”

Last June, her daughter, Grace, was sentenced to eight years in prison for violating her probation. She pleaded guilty to possession, manufacturing, and distribution of methamphetamine. Grace is expected to remain in prison until 2025.

I found myself hoping, then praying, that during her time in prison, Grace will come to embrace the gift that she was named for.

God loves Wynonna Ciminella

Our culture is fame-obsessed, but it’s important for our Christian witness that we look past fame to the genuine person behind the persona. Everyone deserves the chance to be known for who they are, not who they appear to be. That’s the way God views people.

Choosing to know and appreciate a person for who they genuinely are is a gift we have been given by God and a gift we should share with others. It’s difficult for people to accept that they are loved, even with all their flaws, but that is a unique message Christians can—and should—offer.

That’s the message that Wynonna “Ciminella” needed and received. That’s the gift offered by the first line of her song, “Psalm 23 when I’m scared to death.”

When Jesus called the Pharisees “hypocrites,” he was using the ancient word for actors on a stage, men behind a mask. I think Jesus could probably call out many of us today using that same metaphor. The witness we choose to offer is often a much better performance than our genuine lives.

Jesus spoke to that tendency when he told the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27–28).

If we were famous, what would the tabloids report about our lives?

Each of us should offer grace to others because we know we need grace ourselves. We don’t want to be a Pharisee because, according to Jesus, they were lousy witnesses in their culture. Pharisees kept people from knowing God because they kept people from understanding that everyone needs, and has been offered, grace.

We always have a shepherd

Wynonna sings about leaning on Psalm 23. That Psalm begins, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Notice it doesn’t say, “The Lord is our shepherd.”

The decision to follow God is individual. Every person you know has either chosen God as their shepherd, or they are without his guiding presence.

The metaphor of a “good shepherd” is found throughout Scripture to describe the work of both God and Jesus in our lives. That description requires another. If God is a shepherd, that makes us sheep. But Jesus offered these encouraging words to his disciples saying, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14–15).

God genuinely and completely knows who we are. So does Jesus. And our Creator thought we were worth the sacrifice we reverence and hear about each Easter season. How is that kind of love possible?

Easter means we always have a shepherd who will redeem our failures and bring us back to a place of safety.

Wynonna’s “new song”

My friend told me about the testimony that Wynonna offered the crowd before she sang “These Are the Things That I Lean On.” I imagine it was similar to her concert testimony I found online. I hope you will take the time to watch that video as well. I believe it is a clip of Wynonna Judd Ciminella, the person behind the fame.

I hope each of us will use this blog post and Wynonna’s songs to examine our own lives.

Easter is coming soon. Whom will we meet that needs to understand and accept that Easter was necessary because of who we genuinely are as human beings?

But Easter was our amazing gift from God because he has always loved his sheep, genuinely.

I hope that all of us will sing “a new song” as we consider Easter and share the truth of this holy season with others.