Holy Week Hangover

Don’t get too excited.  I didn’t touch a drop of alcohol.

Each year, I grow exceedingly disappointed with Holy Week.  When I was a child, Holy Week kicked off with kids waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna!”  These days, I’m lucky to hear a sermon about Jesus’ Triumphal Entry at all–let alone see a palm branch.

Good Friday this year was even more disappointing. I was grateful to have the day off but my church didn’t have a Good Friday service. How can we truly appreciate the glorious Risen Lord on Sunday if we don’t reflect on his agony on Friday? He did the work on Friday. Churches that don’t hold a Good Friday service are like children who open the most spectacular present that can be had on Christmas morning with no thought of the work it took to acquire it. Eternal life is the most magnificent gift that God gave to man…purchased at the price of his only begotten Son and get we barely notice Good Friday.

These days, Easter Sunday is barely different from any other Sunday. There may be a little talk of the Resurrected Jesus but more often than not, the pastor only pays a little lip service to Him. I wonder how many pastors across America yesterday made some aspect of April Fool’s Day a part of their sermon. I get it. Pastors want to be cute and clever and hey! April Fool’s Day is made for cuteness and cleverness. Nevertheless, cute and clever do not begin to reveal the glory of our Risen Savior and anyone who tied April Fool’s Day into their sermon yesterday should be ashamed.

Friends, we need to get serious about what we’re doing at church. Not just during Holy Week but all year long! There should be a difference between us and the world.

No Regrets

I attended the funeral of a friend’s father today.  I never met him.  Cancer.

As the minister began his eulogy, I learned that he was the pastor at my friend’s church. The pastor hadn’t met the deceased either.

The minister preached a funeral message that I had heard several times before.  Basically, it was about what we do with the dash between the date of our birth and the date of our death.  His premise was, “What do you do with the dash? The in between? What do you do with the middle?”

The question is valid.  What do you do with the time between the beginning and the end?

My friend’s father did not live a pious life.  He gave little thought to the Lord or the Kingdom of Heaven until his dying days.  It turns out that he had a deathbed conversion that some people who live lives of sin have near the end of their lives.

Most deathbed conversion stories are similar.  The sinner repents, is saved and at the funeral, the minister is able to preach about Brother or Sister So-in-So who is now basking in the Glory and Presence of the Lord.  In the case of my friend’s father, I have no reason to doubt it.

However, something the minister said really got my attention and got me thinking.  He said that my friend’s father had wished that he had just a little while longer to live so that he could tell others about his new found joy in the Lord…and that my friend’s father died with regrets.

Not a surprise really, people die with regrets every day.  Interestingly, though, the minister implied that if a person lived as a Christian, he or she may be able to die without regrets entirely.  I pondered his words for several hours and ultimately dismissed them as balderdash.  I think it is impossible for any human (with the possible exception of Christ Himself) to live a life free of regrets unless they have a seared conscience.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe there are plenty of humans who have seared consciences and are therefore incapable of having regrets.

Pop-culture meme about regret.

I don’t believe that it’s possible for a Christian to live a regret-free life.  For better or worse, regrets are part of what make us who we are.  I’m not saying that we should embrace regret, but trying to banish it completely will likely lead us to be miserable.

Peace to you all.

For Western Christendom in the First Half of the 21st Century

Welcome to the Cheeky Christian!

The Cheeky Christian was conceived in the mind of a man who, admittedly, found himself enduring something of a mid-life crisis. The crisis wasn’t a typical mental or physical one but a crisis of spirit. Instead of buying a sports car and having an affair with a twenty-something mistress, he decided to create this media endeavor to speak to Western Christendom. I am that man. My name is Christian.

As a people, Christians in the West have lost their way. The faith is not what it once was and as a result, the cultural rot that has been destroying Western Civilization has crept into the church and has begun to poison it as well. Will this website be the antidote? I don’t know. The intention is merely to draw attention to the corruptive elements of society and to remind Christianity of its roots. It will at least be an outlet for me to shout my frustrations with the way things are. I can no longer remain silent.

Be advised. This is not the typical Christian website. There won’t be any sugar-coating or hand holding while singing Kumbaya. The truth is often graphic and difficult. Expect to see and hear difficult truth here—without apology. Truth never needs to apologize. Expect to be offended. The truth is often offensive. From time to time, it will be offensive here.

Let’s get started. I can’t wait to see what happens.

Your man,

Christian