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As the storm was approaching, I felt the sting of fear in my heart. "Oh, no! What if it rains all over these, they're ruined, and we don't get the most important panel up in time for Easter!?!" I decided to test the paint. It felt mostly dry to the touch. Lilly and I started to discuss whether or not we should move them back across the street to the house to finish drying or whether not to. We definitely didn't want to get black paint on the Faith House! At that moment, I felt a couple of drops of rain. "Okay. We're going now!", I said, and, with that, we pulled our creations up off of the slightly paint stained grass, and started racing for the gate from the garden in the back of the church. It's not easy carrying giant cardboard cutouts (backed with various pieces of wood and bamboo for rigidity) as the wind picks up. It wants to snag them like giant kites without strings and yank them from us. As Lilly locked the garden gate, I raced across the street and scurried up the front steps to the safety of the porch. Just in the nick of time!! Before Lilly even caught up with me, and just as I was setting them down, the rain came. Huge, pouring, drenching sheets of Texas rain. We had just barely made it!
So, what was the big deal about what we were working on? Well, some would say maybe nothing. We would say
Maybe everything. What we were working on had the power to potentially change lives! It was a picturesque storytelling of the most important event in the bible: The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We already had panels up telling the story of his death on the cross on Good Friday and we had a panel of an empty cross up for Saturday to signify that he was taken off of the cross and buried. The panel we were working on at the onset of the rain was the most important. It was the telling of the resurrection. The apostle Paul says the following about it:
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
"Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die."
- 1 Corinthians 15:12-32
So, as you can see, this was the most important panel of the three! We waited another hour or so until the weather abated again before we put it up, but the result is pretty cool. (Pictures coming at the end of this post!)
As we are a Christian house, interested in engaging the surrounding community in a missional sense, Easter presented for us a unique opportunity to tell the story to the surrounding community. Thinking of the popularity of Christmas decorations, I decided we should put up Easter decorations. It wasn't until Thursday morning that I had a clear image of how these should look and be done. After that, it was a race against the clock to get the materials, and prepare the panels. We actually didn't get anything at all up until Friday! (I was wanting to stagger the display of each panel to correspond with each day of the weekend) In the end, we really like the result, and we hope it will have an impact on the dozens of people who walk past our house each day.
Now, for pictures (some images are smaller than others due to a funny setting I had on my iPhone):
Upon completion:
Panel 1
Panel 2
Panel 3
The whole thing
"He is risen!"
"He is risen indeed!"
- Paschal greeting at our church
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