Easter Fruit.

I bet if you’d ask any pastor if they’d prefer you attend their Easter service or take up a daily spiritual practice, 10/10 would say the latter.

“But Bryan, how could you say that? It’s Easter! Going to church is what we do.” Here me out - I’m NOT saying don’t go to your church this Easter. Gathering in community to celebrate and remember the hope of the resurrection is beautiful - if that’s your thing. If it’s not your thing, you should feel zero judgement/shame (esp. from the religious). There’s plenty of good reasons to show up or not this Sunday.

The real magic

The problem is, we’ve placed all our Easter eggs in one basket (pun intended). We’ve overdosed on Sundays while struggling spiritually Monday - Saturday. The great irony is - events don’t lead to behavior change. What does the church ultimately want? Behavior change. Personal engagement. Love in action. Yet we continue to emphasize Sundays, when the real magic is found in our everyday lives.

It’s all about Fruit

This is the failure of the modern church. The thing we need most is the thing we don’t do. The task of the church is the invitation of Jesus, to help people produce fruit. Fruit is the point of Jesus - how you live / evidence of a changed life. “A healthy tree produces healthy fruit”, “Abide in me and you will bear much fruit.” (Matthew 7:17, John 15:4)

Training > Attending

Events have their place (inspiration, community, etc.) For healthy churches, the energy put into the Easter service is not to put on a show or convince you how great they are. It’s to invite you into a lifestyle of following of Jesus through practices and habits - repeated over time & lived out in our day-to-day lives. Spiritual training leads to transformation, not attending.

So whatever Easter looks like for you this year, remember that the magic of Easter isn’t the box you check Sunday, but the fruit people see in your life.

On the journey,

Bryan

Ready to train? Take your faith to the “gym”!