WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.080 Music. 00:00:11.931 --> 00:00:16.331 Well, hey, everybody, and welcome back to Episode 6 of the Life on 11 podcast. 00:00:16.911 --> 00:00:20.431 I'm John. In just a second, I'll be joined by Jeremy. And on today's podcast, 00:00:20.691 --> 00:00:26.131 we're talking about Easter, Christian holiday, or multi-billion dollar enterprise. 00:00:26.451 --> 00:00:29.691 You decide. So without further ado, let's take it to 11. 00:00:36.291 --> 00:00:39.231 What's going on, Jeremy? How are you this week? What's happening, homie? 00:00:39.771 --> 00:00:43.751 Nothing. Just got done honeydoing all day. 00:00:43.971 --> 00:00:48.751 It felt like the first legit spring day today in the Shenandoah Valley. 00:00:49.291 --> 00:00:55.171 Oh, y'all can't see John right now, but let's just say that he's red. 00:00:55.351 --> 00:00:57.891 I would make a great Jeff Foxworthy joke. 00:00:58.091 --> 00:01:01.191 He got a lot of sun today. I got a lot of sun today. Does it hurt? 00:01:01.591 --> 00:01:04.911 I can feel it. It doesn't hurt. No, it's going to hurt tomorrow. Yeah. 00:01:05.291 --> 00:01:08.571 I took a cold shower before you got here trying to tone it down a bit. 00:01:08.571 --> 00:01:11.331 Did you have your wife put some aloe on? 00:01:11.451 --> 00:01:14.431 No aloe yet. No? Probably before bed. Yeah, okay. Before bed. 00:01:14.731 --> 00:01:19.471 Yeah, but it's good. We had a great day. Got a lot of honeydew projects done. 00:01:19.891 --> 00:01:21.091 Nice. Yep, yep. How about you? 00:01:22.011 --> 00:01:26.991 Back to work today. Had a good but quick weekend. Yeah. 00:01:27.311 --> 00:01:31.471 Got some work done around the house on Saturday, and then Taylor had a gymnastics 00:01:31.471 --> 00:01:35.291 competition yesterday, which those are always fun, hanging out with family and 00:01:35.291 --> 00:01:38.351 friends. We had quite a crowd yesterday. Yeah. 00:01:39.071 --> 00:01:44.351 I think it was like 20 some people between all of our families and everybody 00:01:44.351 --> 00:01:46.991 who was there. I don't feel bad. I don't feel bad. 00:01:47.471 --> 00:01:49.971 I mean, I've just been lost in the crowd. The meaning would have been gone. 00:01:50.631 --> 00:01:54.191 But you still could have got some Red Robin. Okay. Then I should have went. Exactly. 00:01:54.571 --> 00:01:57.451 We had Love Feast last night. Our last podcast was on Love Feast. 00:01:57.571 --> 00:01:58.631 So we had Love Feast last night. 00:01:59.331 --> 00:02:02.151 Olivia got her little tiny feet washed. I saw pictures of that. 00:02:02.231 --> 00:02:05.271 That's awesome. So that was cool. It was a good night. It was a good night. 00:02:05.491 --> 00:02:09.251 So now we're kind of ramping up for Easter. What's Easter look like for you 00:02:09.251 --> 00:02:10.611 guys? Do you do like big stuff? 00:02:12.151 --> 00:02:15.371 Usually we just get together with my parents and Tara's parents. 00:02:15.531 --> 00:02:19.391 But my parents, I think, are still going to be in Seattle. 00:02:19.691 --> 00:02:23.231 Okay. So we might not get to see them. Okay. But I'm sure we'll have like lunch 00:02:23.231 --> 00:02:27.631 with Tara's parents or dinner or something. Just get together and. 00:02:28.031 --> 00:02:32.191 Sweet. Hang out. Sweet. Hopefully the weather's nice. Yeah. Play outside. 00:02:32.671 --> 00:02:35.751 Nice. That sounds like fun. That sounds like fun. Riley and I were playing outside 00:02:35.751 --> 00:02:38.751 this evening and he got, he said, it is too hot out here. 00:02:39.211 --> 00:02:42.671 So we had to go back. Okay. I didn't disagree with him. I was okay. 00:02:42.811 --> 00:02:44.071 Cause it was kind of warm. Good call. 00:02:44.291 --> 00:02:46.991 I was like working outside and I went in and looked at Jess, 00:02:47.091 --> 00:02:48.891 like I'm pouring sweat. And I was like, I'm not going to make it. 00:02:48.891 --> 00:02:51.851 Like, I am not going to make it through the summertime. 00:02:52.051 --> 00:02:54.111 Like, my body has not acclimated yet. 00:02:54.611 --> 00:02:57.551 Yeah, I don't like really hot. And, of course, I've got a whole day of church 00:02:57.551 --> 00:03:01.271 stuff on Sunday. Yep. Like, all good things. All good things. 00:03:01.931 --> 00:03:07.151 So that actually is kind of the topic. I mean, it is the topic of our podcast 00:03:07.151 --> 00:03:09.431 today. We're talking about Easter. Oh. 00:03:09.911 --> 00:03:14.171 We're talking about Easter. Easter. Okay. Specifically, we're talking about 00:03:14.171 --> 00:03:18.311 the commercialization of Easter. 00:03:18.891 --> 00:03:22.991 Do you have a dictionary? I don't. Well, I have a computer. Commercialization. 00:03:24.411 --> 00:03:27.891 Commercialization. What exactly does commercialization mean? Well, let's see. 00:03:28.051 --> 00:03:31.291 I'll just put my little search bar here. I mean, I'm not saying that I don't 00:03:31.291 --> 00:03:36.751 know what it means, but we just might want to make sure everybody knows what we're talking about. 00:03:37.931 --> 00:03:41.051 That's not meant to insult anybody listening. I want to be clear. 00:03:42.511 --> 00:03:48.851 The definition, this is from Miriam's, I believe, says, Is the process of managing 00:03:48.851 --> 00:03:53.691 or running something principally for financial gain? Aha. 00:03:54.611 --> 00:04:00.991 Principally for financial gain. There we go. So we're talking about the commercialization of Easter. 00:04:01.391 --> 00:04:05.471 Yep. So I think we've all experienced this. Oh, yeah. 00:04:05.871 --> 00:04:11.391 Right? Because, I mean, this could actually be a larger topic for a podcast. 00:04:11.391 --> 00:04:14.951 But, you know, the one thing that America is really good at is taking something good. 00:04:15.431 --> 00:04:20.131 And messing it up. messing it up by trying to make money off of it. I mean, it's real. 00:04:21.631 --> 00:04:24.951 Capitalism at its finest. But I think sometimes. 00:04:26.951 --> 00:04:31.871 American culture takes something good and says, how can we make a profit off of this good thing? 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:36.850 So absolutely right. One of the things that we looked up before we started recording. 00:04:37.030 --> 00:04:41.790 So if you're wondering what the commercialization of Easter looks like, 00:04:41.950 --> 00:04:48.510 it is predicted that in the year 2025, the average United States consumer will 00:04:48.510 --> 00:04:53.330 spend one hundred and eighty nine dollars on Easter. 00:04:53.890 --> 00:05:01.810 And that the total that they expect Easter spending in the U.S. to hit $23.6 billion. 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:08.290 That's insanity. That people will spend on Easter. That is insanity. Yeah. 00:05:08.770 --> 00:05:12.530 I mean, I could spend $189 on food for Easter. 00:05:12.930 --> 00:05:16.810 Okay. I mean. Okay. I could get behind that. But I'm sure we're talking about 00:05:16.810 --> 00:05:19.270 like Easter baskets and toys. 00:05:19.630 --> 00:05:22.390 Yeah. This is basically a second Christmas. 00:05:22.990 --> 00:05:27.070 Is what it turns into. One of the articles that I was reading to kind of prep 00:05:27.070 --> 00:05:30.270 for this a little bit, that's what it was called. The Second Christmas? 00:05:31.630 --> 00:05:37.270 Goodness gracious. I've seen some people get their kids some Easter baskets 00:05:37.270 --> 00:05:40.830 that have like a PS5 in it and like, what? 00:05:41.170 --> 00:05:44.070 Nah, we good with that. That's not going to happen. That's crazy. 00:05:44.470 --> 00:05:51.510 So when you were a child, when you were wee little Jeremy, what was Easter like? 00:05:51.510 --> 00:05:52.670 What did you get in Easter? 00:05:52.910 --> 00:05:56.390 Did you do Easter baskets? We did. We did. But let me tell you how things went 00:05:56.390 --> 00:05:58.890 down at the Sauna Frank house. Tell me about it. 00:05:59.710 --> 00:06:02.630 Little Jeremy, who was kind of chubby at the time. 00:06:02.770 --> 00:06:07.010 So I've, you know, I've kind of grown back into, into that now at my older age, 00:06:07.090 --> 00:06:09.970 had a time of being slim, which not many people remember. 00:06:10.090 --> 00:06:13.750 But anyway, chubby little Jeremy had to wear a three piece suit. 00:06:14.650 --> 00:06:19.290 Yeah. Mom made me get dressed up. We had to take pictures before we went to church. 00:06:20.170 --> 00:06:24.710 I had to put my suit on and take pictures before I could have my Easter basket. 00:06:26.110 --> 00:06:29.010 Now, an Easter basket for us was like, 00:06:29.756 --> 00:06:32.836 everybody's favorite the peeps okay yeah 00:06:32.836 --> 00:06:36.276 there were some peeps always peeps and then like some 00:06:36.276 --> 00:06:39.696 chocolate and i always 00:06:39.696 --> 00:06:42.436 had a thing for reese's pieces you know they put them in that thing and 00:06:42.436 --> 00:06:45.156 make them look like a carrot oh yeah yep yep there was one 00:06:45.156 --> 00:06:47.936 of those in mine and then maybe like i remember getting 00:06:47.936 --> 00:06:50.896 like a stuffed animal or something like that yeah and that 00:06:50.896 --> 00:06:54.056 was it usually okay and then we always had a family reunion 00:06:54.056 --> 00:06:56.836 on easter okay after church okay yep 00:06:56.836 --> 00:07:00.276 that was a son of frank reunion nice nice so growing 00:07:00.276 --> 00:07:03.116 up that was we pretty well knew what was happening on 00:07:03.116 --> 00:07:08.576 easter and that's how it went down okay yeah how about you similar our easter 00:07:08.576 --> 00:07:14.476 baskets were like yours a couple peeps a couple you know little jelly beans 00:07:14.476 --> 00:07:19.196 did you eat the peeps oh yeah did you absolutely i never eat the peeps oh dude 00:07:19.196 --> 00:07:21.656 peeps are amazing yeah no they're definitely not amazing. 00:07:22.376 --> 00:07:26.056 All right. Well, this podcast is now about Peeps. No, I'm just kidding. 00:07:26.916 --> 00:07:30.456 Let me tell you something. I see like Dr. Pepper flavored Peeps. 00:07:30.576 --> 00:07:34.596 Oh, that's sacrilege. Okay. You need to get that away from me. Dr. Pepper Peeps. 00:07:34.896 --> 00:07:37.596 Peeps are supposed to taste like sugar-covered marshmallows and that's it. 00:07:37.696 --> 00:07:40.476 What if they were Mountain Dew Peeps? I still, I'm a purist. 00:07:40.736 --> 00:07:45.096 Peeps are supposed to taste like Peeps. What about Peeps milk where the milk tastes like Peeps? 00:07:45.176 --> 00:07:48.976 That is disgusting. thing i'm just okay hey there's 00:07:48.976 --> 00:07:52.156 commercialization even more right let's take okay all 00:07:52.156 --> 00:07:57.296 right so yeah so so easter baskets at our house looked a lot like yours the 00:07:57.296 --> 00:08:02.256 one thing and i don't know that this was necessarily a a thing my parents did 00:08:02.256 --> 00:08:06.556 every year or if it was just like a stretch of time that they did it but i can 00:08:06.556 --> 00:08:10.496 tell you that the best easter gift basket i ever got, 00:08:11.196 --> 00:08:14.216 had the original Space Jam movie in it. 00:08:14.536 --> 00:08:17.576 Oh. That was life-changing. That was life-changing. Epic. 00:08:18.076 --> 00:08:21.976 And so then I think that started like for a few years there because there were three of us kids. 00:08:22.276 --> 00:08:25.716 We'd always get a movie like for all three of us. And I can remember like we, 00:08:26.036 --> 00:08:27.736 this is some of the different movies we have. 00:08:27.996 --> 00:08:32.176 Yeah. But I can to this day remember getting Space Jam and, 00:08:32.664 --> 00:08:36.184 Like, it's part of our Easter gift. Okay. 00:08:36.484 --> 00:08:43.224 Right? But like you, like, I would guess my parents probably spent less than $10 a kid. 00:08:43.984 --> 00:08:46.004 Well, with inflation now, that's probably $100. 00:08:46.964 --> 00:08:51.524 The economy has changed, hasn't it? Them peeps are... Woo! Yeah. 00:08:51.844 --> 00:08:57.604 So, but now, do you do anything for your kids? Like, what do you do? 00:08:58.504 --> 00:09:03.204 I personally do not do anything at all. Sorry, does Tara do anything for you? 00:09:03.304 --> 00:09:05.304 There we go. Does Tara do anything for you? Hey, now she's going to be mad at 00:09:05.304 --> 00:09:07.044 you because you said her name. Okay, well, she can be mad at me. 00:09:07.084 --> 00:09:08.184 All right, we might have to beep that out. 00:09:08.344 --> 00:09:13.344 But anyway, yeah, no, Tara gets like, I think she reuses the same basket every 00:09:13.344 --> 00:09:18.364 year maybe and just like candy and, I mean, Taylin will probably get like a 00:09:18.364 --> 00:09:22.464 Starbucks gift card because, of course, she always wants to go to Starbucks. Yeah. 00:09:22.744 --> 00:09:27.764 And Riley will probably get like a Sonic the Hedgehog stuffed animal or something like that. Nothing. 00:09:28.004 --> 00:09:31.344 Yeah. nothing crazy no ps5s or new tvs 00:09:31.344 --> 00:09:34.104 or anything like that yeah yeah yeah so yeah i mean 00:09:34.104 --> 00:09:36.944 just similar to how i grew up yeah that's kind 00:09:36.944 --> 00:09:39.624 of our and like candy isn't a huge thing in our house 00:09:39.624 --> 00:09:43.524 like our kids don't all the time get candy so it really is a treat for them 00:09:43.524 --> 00:09:47.864 to get a basket with candy in it because normally that's not a thing and so 00:09:47.864 --> 00:09:52.544 yeah like you i mean livy will probably get a little stuffed animal you know 00:09:52.544 --> 00:09:57.024 hayley will get a stuffed animal the boys will probably i'll just get candy, 00:09:57.444 --> 00:10:03.104 maybe some random pair of socks or, oh, I think a funny pair of socks. 00:10:03.244 --> 00:10:05.304 Heap socks. Heap socks. Right. 00:10:05.824 --> 00:10:14.004 And so just overall, how do you think tying commercialization of Easter to what 00:10:14.004 --> 00:10:18.604 Easter is supposed to be, the death and resurrection of Jesus, 00:10:18.884 --> 00:10:24.444 how do you think that complicates the gospel? 00:10:24.444 --> 00:10:28.124 Oh, it definitely complicates the gospel, I think, because, you know, 00:10:28.284 --> 00:10:30.644 our kids, our kids are in public school. 00:10:31.064 --> 00:10:37.624 So I know at school, I'm sure they're hearing like kids talking about the Easter bunny and, 00:10:37.784 --> 00:10:44.344 you know, talking about all those, all those things that, that have helped add 00:10:44.344 --> 00:10:46.444 to the commercialization of Easter. 00:10:46.444 --> 00:10:50.924 So we're spending time at home saying, you know what Easter is really about, 00:10:51.224 --> 00:10:54.924 right? It's really about Christ's death on the cross and resurrection. 00:10:55.404 --> 00:11:02.184 So the best way for us to teach them that is to like go to a good Friday service 00:11:02.184 --> 00:11:12.324 and then get up and go to sunrise service at church and hear the story of what Easter really is. Yeah. 00:11:12.724 --> 00:11:18.964 Well, and I even think, you know, I think your kids and my kids do like and also participating in. 00:11:19.548 --> 00:11:25.128 In the story, right? Like they're, they're involved in the Easter celebration, 00:11:25.128 --> 00:11:28.368 which is a whole nother thing we could talk about, but yeah. 00:11:28.788 --> 00:11:35.388 And, and I even think about, so we had our, our church Easter egg hunt this, this past Saturday. 00:11:35.648 --> 00:11:41.568 And what was amazing to me was how many people like they go around looking for 00:11:41.568 --> 00:11:45.148 Easter egg hunts and they'll spend like the whole day, just jumping from Easter 00:11:45.148 --> 00:11:47.148 egg hunt to Easter egg hunt, to Easter egg hunt, to Easter egg hunt. 00:11:47.148 --> 00:11:49.848 So their kids get all the experience and it's 00:11:49.848 --> 00:11:52.968 like that's yeah kind of not yeah 00:11:52.968 --> 00:11:56.168 what what it's about right yeah and 00:11:56.168 --> 00:11:59.188 i get it you're trying to make memories with your kids i'm like yeah so 00:11:59.188 --> 00:12:02.108 we typically we do the church easter egg hunt and that's all we 00:12:02.108 --> 00:12:05.568 really do we don't go to the parks and rec department we don't go and do all 00:12:05.568 --> 00:12:09.988 those things like for us the setting that easter takes place in is the church 00:12:09.988 --> 00:12:14.668 and so we go to our church easter egg hunt and there's a little church down 00:12:14.668 --> 00:12:18.308 the road here that will sometimes take our kids to their events because they 00:12:18.308 --> 00:12:19.888 don't have a lot of kids in their church. 00:12:19.888 --> 00:12:23.228 And we just, we always take our kids up there because we feel like they do a 00:12:23.228 --> 00:12:25.948 good job and we've kind of developed relationships with them. 00:12:26.188 --> 00:12:29.328 Theirs happened to be the same time as ours. So we might grab one of theirs, 00:12:29.368 --> 00:12:34.008 but really that's just about like this church is trying really hard to welcome kids. 00:12:34.108 --> 00:12:38.028 Let's go and let's encourage one another, not just, Hey, let's go get some more 00:12:38.028 --> 00:12:39.348 Easter eggs or whatever. 00:12:39.348 --> 00:12:47.448 I mean, you know, when you talk about the reason I think that churches do the trunk retreats, 00:12:47.628 --> 00:12:54.468 the Easter egg hunts, all of those things at the church is it's another opportunity 00:12:54.468 --> 00:12:57.148 to get people that wouldn't normally 00:12:57.148 --> 00:13:02.908 come to church to come to a more comfortable event for them. Right. 00:13:03.208 --> 00:13:09.008 Something that's more, I don't want to say normal, but more normal to them. 00:13:09.128 --> 00:13:14.388 Right. And if that is enough to get them there and get them to want to come back. Right. 00:13:14.768 --> 00:13:18.408 I mean, then the church is succeeding. Right. In doing that. 00:13:18.588 --> 00:13:26.248 As long, you know, the church is obviously saying Easter is about Jesus' death and resurrection. 00:13:26.468 --> 00:13:29.348 Right, right, right. So, like, there's no doubt that that's what it's about. 00:13:29.528 --> 00:13:34.088 Yeah, we're adding the, we're throwing in the eggs and the Easter egg hunt for. 00:13:34.546 --> 00:13:38.326 Just to try to help bring some people in. 00:13:38.546 --> 00:13:43.066 I mean, that sounds really bad, but it's an outreach. Right. 00:13:43.366 --> 00:13:48.726 And that is, and I think the other side is too, it also gives for families who 00:13:48.726 --> 00:13:52.386 don't want to prescribe to the commercialization, 00:13:52.566 --> 00:13:58.326 like here's an alternative to where you can come to this and it's still Christ-centered 00:13:58.326 --> 00:14:00.506 and you don't, you know, or trunk or treat, right? 00:14:00.686 --> 00:14:04.866 Like you can come to a church event. It was actually called Resurrection Party. 00:14:05.046 --> 00:14:05.966 It was called Resurrection Party. 00:14:06.246 --> 00:14:11.186 Yes. So, I mean, in the name, it's very clear what we're doing. 00:14:11.446 --> 00:14:15.866 Right. And for me, like, that belongs there. 00:14:16.086 --> 00:14:21.066 But it does seem to taint the gospel a bit that you have, on one hand. 00:14:21.866 --> 00:14:26.306 Jesus, who was a man who lives simply. 00:14:27.026 --> 00:14:30.766 And, you know, the Son of Man didn't have a place to lay his head. 00:14:30.766 --> 00:14:34.306 He taught a very simple message, paid for sin. 00:14:34.486 --> 00:14:41.626 And then meanwhile, you hit this $23 billion enterprise that many times our 00:14:41.626 --> 00:14:43.966 culture is just looking to detach. 00:14:44.686 --> 00:14:48.706 That's one of the things I will tell you I find really hilarious at some level 00:14:48.706 --> 00:14:55.946 is the amount of people who I know personally who will deny that Jesus is God's son. 00:14:56.086 --> 00:15:00.406 They don't want to talk about the gospel. They don't want to talk about the 00:15:00.406 --> 00:15:03.226 resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but they want to buy their kid an Easter 00:15:03.226 --> 00:15:04.846 basket. I'm like, hold on a second. 00:15:05.626 --> 00:15:11.186 This holiday is literally about that. And so if you're going to detach it from 00:15:11.186 --> 00:15:14.406 the gospel, don't celebrate it. Yeah. 00:15:14.686 --> 00:15:18.826 You know, like Christmas. Okay. Like I can actually make that same argument for Christmas. 00:15:18.946 --> 00:15:23.706 Yeah. I mean, you definitely can make the same. And they've both been people do detach. 00:15:23.906 --> 00:15:29.666 Like you got the Santa Claus crowd. You got the Easter bunny crowd. I mean, yeah. 00:15:29.926 --> 00:15:32.726 Yeah. It's just very interesting to see how that's happened. 00:15:32.866 --> 00:15:39.826 And like the amount of people who want to celebrate Easter that are anti-Christian. 00:15:40.106 --> 00:15:44.546 And it's like, yeah, you don't, you don't see a problem with that. 00:15:44.746 --> 00:15:49.046 Like that's literally what this holiday is about. The only thing this holiday 00:15:49.046 --> 00:15:51.686 is about is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. 00:15:52.126 --> 00:15:58.286 And now it's, it's been tainted. Yeah, the world has definitely tainted it for sure. Yeah. 00:15:58.646 --> 00:16:01.966 So how do we reclaim that? Like for Easter or whatever? 00:16:02.086 --> 00:16:06.926 Because I would make an argument that lots of things in Christian culture have 00:16:06.926 --> 00:16:10.706 been taken by the world as money-making enterprises. 00:16:11.566 --> 00:16:19.626 And that, you know, there's lots of things that we've sacrificed to the altar of making money. 00:16:20.306 --> 00:16:27.686 So how do we as a church, how do we as God's people kind of reclaim the stake to that? Do you think? 00:16:28.186 --> 00:16:30.246 That's a good question. Yeah. 00:16:31.134 --> 00:16:39.414 I mean, getting people getting people in the door to hear hear the word or sharing with them in public. 00:16:39.694 --> 00:16:43.294 Yeah. I mean, you have unfortunately, you have to be careful how you do that 00:16:43.294 --> 00:16:45.694 because you don't want to get punched in the face or anything. 00:16:45.874 --> 00:16:50.114 But, you know, that's persecution. That's true. That's true. 00:16:50.494 --> 00:16:57.514 Yeah. So, I mean, that is I mean, having I don't think it's bad to have like 00:16:57.514 --> 00:16:58.774 the church Easter egg hunt. 00:16:58.874 --> 00:17:02.954 Absolutely not. Or, you know, to have the Christmas tree at church and bring 00:17:02.954 --> 00:17:05.394 gifts for less fortunate kids. 00:17:05.654 --> 00:17:11.194 I think that's all good. Those are all good things. They can exist together. 00:17:12.014 --> 00:17:18.334 The church just needs to be more focused on delivering the gospel. 00:17:19.114 --> 00:17:27.374 Right. So you build the Easter around the story. not try to build an Easter 00:17:27.374 --> 00:17:32.634 outreach and slide the gospel in, you know, kind of under the radar. 00:17:32.834 --> 00:17:34.974 I mean, let's be honest, that can be tempting. 00:17:35.194 --> 00:17:38.734 It can be tempting to be, well, let's do all the Easter things and then we'll 00:17:38.734 --> 00:17:41.554 just slide a little Bible story in there so the kids get it. 00:17:41.694 --> 00:17:47.574 And that's, I mean, that's really not helping the cause of Christendom in my opinion. 00:17:47.634 --> 00:17:51.294 It definitely needs to be like, I mean, the resurrection party. 00:17:51.294 --> 00:17:56.074 I mean, it's obvious we're not just having an Easter egg hunt, right? 00:17:56.634 --> 00:18:02.014 We are talking about Christ's death and resurrection, number one. 00:18:02.254 --> 00:18:05.534 Yeah, we're going to hide some eggs with some candy in them so the kids can 00:18:05.534 --> 00:18:08.894 go search for them and have a good time, but we're here for Jesus, right? 00:18:09.781 --> 00:18:14.581 Same thing for Christmas. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think the other, 00:18:14.761 --> 00:18:18.321 like, one of the things that I wrestle with is, to me, 00:18:18.561 --> 00:18:22.601 and you've heard me say this for a couple years now at church, 00:18:22.781 --> 00:18:26.361 I think that Easter is the pinnacle of what the church is about. Mm-hmm. 00:18:26.721 --> 00:18:33.781 And so, to me, our Easter celebrations should be more than our Christmas celebrations. 00:18:34.861 --> 00:18:40.161 Yeah. Agreed. Like I think in during Christmas, we can often have all these things. 00:18:40.461 --> 00:18:45.821 And so like when I think about it, alluded to this a little bit before that. 00:18:46.061 --> 00:18:49.961 So Sunday, when we gather, like we are going to have a party. 00:18:50.281 --> 00:18:56.581 It's going to be a good day. And we are trying to involve people as an interactive 00:18:56.581 --> 00:19:01.461 that Easter worship is not something that you show up and consume. 00:19:02.321 --> 00:19:08.661 Which very much a lot of church culture at this point has become consume, right? Yep. 00:19:08.841 --> 00:19:12.561 Consumer driven. Yep. Come and listen to somebody sing and listen to somebody 00:19:12.561 --> 00:19:16.341 preach and sit in the pew and listen, like you just sit there and soak it all in. 00:19:16.521 --> 00:19:20.221 I mean, you're scrolling through social media. You're basically seeing commercials 00:19:20.221 --> 00:19:21.981 for churches, essentially. Yeah. 00:19:22.321 --> 00:19:28.281 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And so instead, I think one of the ways that we combat 00:19:28.281 --> 00:19:33.861 consumerism at Easter is we don't make Easter something for our churches to consume. 00:19:34.181 --> 00:19:40.421 We make Easter something that our churches participate in, which is why I think 00:19:40.421 --> 00:19:46.161 things like Love Feast, a Good Friday service, and an Ash Wednesday service to begin Lent. 00:19:46.681 --> 00:19:50.461 On Sunday, we will have moments where during the worship service, 00:19:50.541 --> 00:19:53.361 people have to engage in, 00:19:53.874 --> 00:19:59.174 Because the moment Easter becomes a product to consume, then realistically, 00:19:59.674 --> 00:20:03.934 church in and of itself just becomes a product to consume, which is easy to 00:20:03.934 --> 00:20:10.574 do because many times the churches that are growing are consumer-driven churches, right? 00:20:11.014 --> 00:20:16.974 And it's hard to fight that temptation because it could be very easy. 00:20:17.214 --> 00:20:24.094 I mean, we have some really gifted musicians at our church. We could put on a show. Oh, absolutely. 00:20:24.514 --> 00:20:29.934 We could put on a show. We could dump money into our audiovisual program and 00:20:29.934 --> 00:20:36.454 we could get the fancy lights that we could put on a show every Sunday if we wanted to. 00:20:36.734 --> 00:20:41.794 But would that be doing the gospel justice? Because Jesus, the way I read the 00:20:41.794 --> 00:20:47.494 gospels, never said, hey, y'all show up and listen to me and y'all just sit down and shut up. 00:20:47.494 --> 00:20:53.074 And he invited people to participate in the gospel. 00:20:53.874 --> 00:20:59.054 Whether that was the jars of water when he turned water into wine, 00:20:59.094 --> 00:21:02.794 or it was, hey, how are you going to feed these people with the five loaves and two fish? 00:21:02.934 --> 00:21:06.914 Or it was, Jesus invited people to participate in his mission. 00:21:07.254 --> 00:21:11.114 Church is not something to be consumed. Church is something to be involved with. 00:21:11.214 --> 00:21:16.974 So therefore, the message of Easter needs to reflect that, right? Yeah. 00:21:17.494 --> 00:21:22.494 And, and, and I'll say like, as a pastor, like it can get daunting because you 00:21:22.494 --> 00:21:26.454 do have that moment of time where I know like on Easter Sunday, 00:21:26.574 --> 00:21:27.614 there's going to be people that 00:21:27.614 --> 00:21:29.894 will come to church that we probably won't see for the rest of the year. 00:21:30.374 --> 00:21:33.334 Or if we do see them, we won't see them regularly. Yep. Right. 00:21:33.734 --> 00:21:37.014 And, and I do think that there's something to Easter Sunday, 00:21:37.174 --> 00:21:38.214 the Holy Spirit working. 00:21:38.414 --> 00:21:42.774 So you have this moment in time where you want it to, you want it to be powerful. 00:21:42.974 --> 00:21:48.654 You want a transformational experience for somebody. But at the same time, we can't create that. 00:21:48.914 --> 00:21:53.954 And that's at the heart of consumerism is to create something that people want. 00:21:54.734 --> 00:21:58.694 Exactly. And that's where a lot of churches get in trouble, trying to create 00:21:58.694 --> 00:22:04.654 a feeling or some kind of specific atmosphere. 00:22:05.114 --> 00:22:11.234 When that starts becoming your goal, you've commercialized it. 00:22:11.234 --> 00:22:14.554 Absolutely. And the moment that like you, you're like, and I mean, 00:22:14.654 --> 00:22:18.234 I've, I've been in these conversations before as a minister, 00:22:18.474 --> 00:22:22.974 like, oh, well, if you played this hymn this way with these lighting effects, 00:22:23.034 --> 00:22:29.274 like you can, you, we can at the emotional level create conviction. 00:22:30.424 --> 00:22:34.824 But at the spiritual level, the scriptures say it's only the Holy Spirit that can convict. 00:22:35.004 --> 00:22:40.144 So there's a difference in creating an atmosphere which makes somebody feel 00:22:40.144 --> 00:22:43.964 sorry for what they've done and want to make it, and then true conviction from the Holy Spirit. 00:22:44.884 --> 00:22:51.924 That is a very different thing. And so when I look at what's my job as a pastor 00:22:51.924 --> 00:22:56.244 this coming Sunday, it is not to create an experience. 00:22:56.524 --> 00:23:02.004 Even think about this for a second. How many churches don't have worship services 00:23:02.004 --> 00:23:05.164 anymore? They have worship experiences. 00:23:05.584 --> 00:23:08.704 Like that is a common- They even call them that, right? Right. Yeah. 00:23:09.044 --> 00:23:12.484 And so it's like, come experience this. 00:23:12.764 --> 00:23:18.404 And it's like, eh, like no way. My job this Sunday is not to create an experience. 00:23:18.624 --> 00:23:24.404 It is to create, it is to work with God to allow the Holy Spirit to move and 00:23:24.404 --> 00:23:28.804 to get out of the way so that the Holy Spirit could do what the Holy Spirit's going to do. 00:23:30.964 --> 00:23:37.644 So as a church, awesome. We hope that everyone will come and be a part of that 00:23:37.644 --> 00:23:40.184 and kind of push back on the worldly things. 00:23:40.384 --> 00:23:46.744 I mean, you even said it before, the amount of money that some people might 00:23:46.744 --> 00:23:49.184 spend on clothing for Easter. 00:23:49.364 --> 00:23:54.984 Nothing makes me scratch my head a little bit than people who don't come to church. 00:23:55.004 --> 00:24:00.784 They don't participate in church regularly, but they will go buy brand new matching 00:24:00.784 --> 00:24:04.204 outfits for all their kids to come to church on Easter Sunday. 00:24:04.384 --> 00:24:09.244 It's like Jesus would rather have you participate in the life of the church 00:24:09.244 --> 00:24:14.444 in blue jeans and a T-shirt every week than in your brand new dress on Easter morning. 00:24:14.444 --> 00:24:23.444 Yeah, I mean, there's going to be a lot of people on the old Facebook or Snapchat 00:24:23.444 --> 00:24:28.864 or whatever everybody's doing nowadays on there with their their Easter best 00:24:28.864 --> 00:24:32.084 on taking pictures with their family. I mean, that's all that's all good. Right. 00:24:32.244 --> 00:24:38.964 But you're right. A lot of that is is driven by the consumerism and the commercialization of Easter. 00:24:39.344 --> 00:24:42.624 Like, you know what every good Christian family has? 00:24:42.624 --> 00:24:45.924 An easter picture in matching outfits 00:24:45.924 --> 00:24:48.824 in front of the church that's what we're supposed to do 00:24:48.824 --> 00:24:54.704 yes yes yep and that is part of that consumer mindset right yep and then you 00:24:54.704 --> 00:25:00.184 remake the picture at christmas absolutely at church absolutely we call those 00:25:00.184 --> 00:25:05.784 christers that's right that's right we had on our church on there a couple years 00:25:05.784 --> 00:25:07.944 ago we had now open between christmas and easter. 00:25:09.644 --> 00:25:13.584 It's just a little big but yeah you really do like and that's the thing and 00:25:13.584 --> 00:25:18.844 again that is building this public facade of look at us we did something good 00:25:18.844 --> 00:25:25.664 today we went to church on easter yeah yeah i mean okay awesome and and if that's 00:25:25.664 --> 00:25:28.264 where you find yourself okay congrats but, 00:25:29.173 --> 00:25:31.913 Come back next week in your blue jeans and your t-shirt. Yeah. 00:25:32.713 --> 00:25:36.373 And your hey dudes. Yeah. Yeah. Come back when it's not a photo op. 00:25:36.613 --> 00:25:40.133 Yeah. Come back when it's not the popular thing to do. 00:25:40.773 --> 00:25:43.313 Yeah. Yep. Come back for Jesus. Yeah. 00:25:44.493 --> 00:25:49.893 And participate in the working of the gospel, not just consuming a product. Yeah. 00:25:50.533 --> 00:25:53.193 Yeah. It's interesting. Yeah. 00:25:53.933 --> 00:25:56.993 And if you come to Mount Zion, you can have fried country ham. 00:25:57.533 --> 00:26:00.413 Oh, of course. We got to end this thing with food. 00:26:01.093 --> 00:26:04.573 I heard a rumor that- Oh, my goodness. Somebody's making Spam. 00:26:05.033 --> 00:26:11.473 I heard a rumor that somebody is frying Spam for breakfast. Is anybody bringing corned beef hash? 00:26:12.293 --> 00:26:15.713 I don't know, but we could make that. We might need to make that happen. 00:26:15.853 --> 00:26:20.533 I know a guy who makes some- I know a guy, too. We need to hit that guy up. Okay. 00:26:21.393 --> 00:26:26.833 All right. So I saw a picture of maple Spam. Is that a real thing? 00:26:27.373 --> 00:26:30.793 I don't know. I would not try it. What? 00:26:31.233 --> 00:26:35.893 Why wouldn't you try it? Okay. I just told you that Dr. 00:26:36.053 --> 00:26:39.653 Pepper peeps are not okay. All right, listen. So you think if I'm not going to eat Dr. 00:26:39.833 --> 00:26:42.153 Pepper peeps, I'm going to eat maple syrup spam? 00:26:42.373 --> 00:26:46.433 Hey, candied bacon is amazing. Okay. 00:26:46.913 --> 00:26:51.133 So we're just talking about like, if we're doing maple spam, 00:26:51.513 --> 00:26:53.633 it's like Timu candied bacon. 00:26:53.813 --> 00:26:56.653 I don't think that's true. I think it is. I think it is. 00:26:56.993 --> 00:26:59.293 I think it is. You know what one of our kids has inside? 00:27:00.373 --> 00:27:04.093 Vienna sausage bites in barbecue sauce. Yes. 00:27:04.713 --> 00:27:10.473 Delicious. Are you serious? Bro, I have had Vienna sausages in every flavor you can imagine. 00:27:10.773 --> 00:27:13.993 Yeah, but I mean, I'm not debating that, but like they're cut up into little 00:27:13.993 --> 00:27:16.993 pieces already. What's wrong with that? I don't know. It seems weird. 00:27:17.173 --> 00:27:18.713 There's nothing. I'm not getting a Vienna sausage. 00:27:18.913 --> 00:27:23.433 I want the cracking of the can. I want the whole sausage. I want these little bites. 00:27:24.133 --> 00:27:27.333 I don't know what to tell you. I mean, they taste the same as the whole sausage. I 00:27:27.333 --> 00:27:30.633 am I'm gonna be a fantastic grumpy old man one day you might 00:27:30.633 --> 00:27:35.433 already be there that just would say I am I I'm a purist when it comes to certain 00:27:35.433 --> 00:27:41.433 things like you know you're a purist when it comes to Vienna sausages Vienna 00:27:41.433 --> 00:27:45.493 sausages is a spam that's going on don't mess that is going on the quote wall 00:27:45.493 --> 00:27:48.413 I'm a purist when it comes to Vienna sausage, 00:27:49.500 --> 00:27:51.920 What about potted meat? Oh, yeah, yeah. How do you feel about that? 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:53.800 A little potted meat, slice of tomato. 00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:58.460 Listen, there ain't nothing better than meat you can spread with a knife. 00:27:58.700 --> 00:27:59.480 You know what I'm saying? 00:28:00.320 --> 00:28:06.720 Okay. I feel that. I feel that. That's right. Or, you know, you know what Nate Bergazzi would say? 00:28:08.120 --> 00:28:12.740 No good American needs to know what goes in a hot dog. That's right. 00:28:13.040 --> 00:28:14.980 That's right. Just get out of the boat. Just get out of the boat. 00:28:15.100 --> 00:28:16.180 Just get out. Just get out. 00:28:16.820 --> 00:28:19.320 So, tell us your thoughts on the commercialization of Easter. 00:28:19.320 --> 00:28:22.740 Maybe you spend $189 per consumer in your house. 00:28:22.900 --> 00:28:26.560 Maybe you are one of the ones that will lead to the $28.5 billion. 00:28:27.280 --> 00:28:33.700 And if you're looking to make a change, you can donate the $189 to our podcast. That's a great idea. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:38.640 And we will ensure that it gets used on potted meat. 00:28:38.940 --> 00:28:42.120 On potted meat. And Vienna sausages. 00:28:43.020 --> 00:28:45.580 Absolutely. Someone's going to send us a donation. It's going to say, 00:28:45.780 --> 00:28:50.880 buy real food. Dude, our faces are going to be on potted meat cans and Vienna sausage cans. 00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:53.860 That would be my life's work. The end of the week. That would be my life's work. 00:28:55.220 --> 00:28:59.180 If that's my legacy, I'm okay with it. Yeah. Or when we die, 00:28:59.380 --> 00:29:02.240 someone's going to put potted meat and Vienna sausages on our tombstones. 00:29:03.120 --> 00:29:05.980 There's worse things that can be put on there. That's true. That is true. 00:29:06.420 --> 00:29:10.020 Well, happy Easter, everybody. We will see you whenever the holiday's over. 00:29:10.220 --> 00:29:13.540 We hope that you have a great Easter celebration with your family, 00:29:13.860 --> 00:29:17.860 your friends. Jesus is alive, and you should be too. Amen. Amen. 00:29:17.040 --> 00:29:29.520 Music. 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:32.240 So that's a wrap for this week's Life on 11 podcast. 00:29:32.660 --> 00:29:36.840 As always, you can follow us on all your social channels and find this podcast 00:29:36.840 --> 00:29:40.240 wherever you get your podcast episodes from. 00:29:40.420 --> 00:29:44.420 And one of the best ways that you can support what we do is by telling your 00:29:44.420 --> 00:29:46.820 friends, your family, and everybody that you're here you now. 00:29:46.800 --> 00:30:06.798 Music.