2025 Sunday — The Sunday after Easter

Years ago as a new believer, I recognized that Easter Sunday was a big deal in the world of Christendom. As a new believer I watched with curiosity as the big evangelical churches went out of their way to host visitors; some churches offered an extra service; some moved their entire program to a bigger venue -- a high school gymnasium or stadium. Extra parking was planned for; extra programming for kids; all sorts of extra arrangements.

Lots of people attend church on Easter who don't usually attend church. The church staff gets very excited about the potential of having lots of visitors.

But the Sunday after Easter is back to the same schedule and most of the visitors do not return. So I found it interesting that fifty years ago on the Sunday morning the week after Easter, Mr. Fun & I attended for the first time the church where we were going to have our 10th Wedding Anniversary Vow Renewal. That anniversary celebration changed our lives. We were never the same. In the next few weeks we met Jesus Christ and asked Him to be our Lord and our Savior. Like the Disciples, we never went back to our fishing boat, never to our old way of life. God turned our lives right side up.

So for a number of years after becoming Christ-followers I would write our pastor, Tim Coop, a letter after Easter to remind him that the Sunday after the big holiday might bring visitors also. I would tell Tim to be on the lookout for visitors who missed Easter but were looking for Jesus (even if they didn't know they were searching for Him).

So the two of us pause on the Sunday after Easter, today, for more than a nano-second to acknowledge the eternal highway we stepped onto fifty years ago. We're thankful for Tim Coop and his insight to invite us and suggest that we ought to come to church on a Sunday morning sometime before our May 29th Thursday evening 10th Wedding Anniversary Celebration so we would not feel like strangers in the building. He knew what would happen if we stepped into that family of believers; that our appetites would be whet and that we'd want more, that we would be loved into the Kingdom of God. So we know now to never under-estimate the Sunday after Easter or any Sunday.

We are thankful that Tim & Sandy Coop were rare and precious friends—they became family and the sense of connection with both of them goes beyond words. We’re thankful they led us both to the Door of Eternity. I know many others can say the same. Because they told us, we know that Jesus is the Door – John 10:7. We are grateful they encouraged us to enter in. They helped us become the people God meant us to be Ephesians 2:10.

Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol
and Chloe & Mitzi too!