The After Party 4.24.2025

     Easter is a big day. Though Christmas gets the bigger headlines and more decorations virtually every Christian (please, oh please) understands that the consequences of Easter are far greater than Christmas. Incarnation is a central theological truth, necessitated by the scheme of redemption. We need the cradle to get to the cross, but without the cross the cradle becomes an empty symbol. Together they are emblematic of the self-emptying of Christ by which our common salvation is wrought.

    Among those who have big celebrations or big parties there is a thing called “the After-Party.” The after party is a more exclusive, elaborate, and (sometimes) excessive party which comes after the “main” party. In High School we had Prom, which was formal with a big-band, and spectators. The Post-prom featured casual dress and a rock’n’roll band (Ah the 1970’s). The big change from after parties then and now seems to be the exclusive nature of such gatherings. 

    I think we need to make sure that we don’t simply think of regular worship, “normal church” as some kind of an exclusive gathering for those who are on the “invite” list—an after party for the informed. Weekly Church is not more exclusive, elaborate, or excessive than the big holiday celebrations which have become the norm in the American Church. Weekly worship is essential to who we are as Christians and the heart of redeemed life in Christ. 

    Big events like Christmas and Easter should not detract from regular, consistent worship. Rather, these big events should provide restorative energy for our ongoing work of worship and service. In the contemporary Church, faced with many temptations to conceive of our purpose as something other or different than proclaiming the gospel of the living Christ, it is essential that we keep our central purpose in mind. The big days: celebrations like Christmas and Easter are benchmark reminders—not of something essentially different from what we say and do every other Sunday of the year, but emblematic of our central purpose of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ. 

    Rather than a bigger, or more exclusive party what we need in the aftermath of Easter is a bit of a rest that provides refocused energy and purpose for the balance of the year. As a preacher-scholar-pastor you will probably be somewhat winded after Easter. We generally have additional gatherings for worship, parties, and other events. This is also true with Christmas, but there is a signal difference during this time of year. Rather than being followed with the post-Christmas and New Year’s, lull (we actually had to cancel worship for Snow the very first Sunday of the year) of long, uncommitted weeks we jump right back in with Baccalaureate activities this coming weekend. Then on to Mother’s Day, graduations, etc. After Easter the year really rolls forward. Ordinary Time follows Pentecost and Summer flies past before one can even acknowledge it. 

    Weekly worship and study is the thing we do. It’s not an After-Party. It is the point. It is always tempting to elevate the extras to a point of preeminence, and to see them as preferable to the seemingly mundane details of weekly living. Perhaps that is why the broader Christian community is constantly looking for something to excite our attention. We have taken for granted the simple weekly rhythms of Biblical Christianity—Word and Table, story and sacrament.

    These big days should not be self-referential. They should be annual mileposts that remind us of our ongoing work of devotion and discipleship. In 2025 Jesus remained alive on Saturday 19 April. On Easter we celebrated a finished event. That finished event should inform everything about our work of discipleship. We are barely into the second quarter of the year. There is much to do, much to say, much service to render. Easter was an opportunity to refuel and refocus. Now, to the work.