“Enjoy Life – This Is Not A Dress Rehearsal.”

Date Published: 04/06/2009

“Enjoy life – This is not a dress rehearsal.”

I saw this on a bumper sticker a few weeks ago, when I was collecting material for my worship message for Easter Sunday. Both the design of the bumper sticker and its companions on the back of the car in front of me made clear that it was a challenge to those who believe in life after life. As one who believes firmly in the resurrection of the body as the Gospels attest, as the Apostle Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15 and as is expressed in the Apostles’ Creed, I suppose I could have taken offense.

However, as one who is totally invested in the radical hope of the resurrection to eternal life, I am offended at sappy drivel about becoming angels, floating on clouds, plucking harps, silly conversations with St. Peter at heaven’s gate, and becoming disembodied spirits. I’m even more offended by the history of Christians in positions of power using the promise of pie-in-the-sky heaven as a tool for oppressing the weak and the poor here and now (it’s probably not just in past history either). So even though I don’t agree with the theology intended in the bumper sticker, I resonate with a good deal of its sentiment.

Even though the bumper sticker won’t make it into my Easter Sunday worship message, in a way it could. In that message I hope to guide the congregation to contemplate Jesus’ breakfast on the beach with seven of his disciples in John 21:1-14 and see how just when we least expect him, the risen Jesus shows up in the present moment to transform our daily routine into a holy encounter. So the hope of the resurrection to eternal life and the reality of the resurrection of Jesus are not just about some far off eternal future or about what happens to us when we die. Resurrection is the way to enjoy living today – no rehearsing for tomorrow.