It may be only February, but Easter is a-coming.

Easter.

It has always struck me odd that the birth of Jesus garners so much celebration while his resurrection from the dead barely gets a nod from an Easter bunny and some chickens. Christmas has a month of decorations, lights, trees, advent calendars, songs, gift giving, and social events. Easter ramps up for barely a week, a tiny roster of hit songs, colored eggs, and new outfits for Sunday service. By comparison, our commemoration of Easter is lame.

People. For Christians, Easter is High Noon! The ultimate shoot-out. The ultimate show-down between the forces of evil and the Almighty God.

This is it! Easter is the event upon which our faith rests. It seems fitting that we spend time reflecting on the significance of Jesus’s life and sacrifice in the days leading up Easter.

I grew up in a house that practiced spring-cleaning. I hated it. It meant that in addition to our weekly regimen of household chores, we dove deep. We moved furniture,  washed windows, laundered curtains, and cleaned baseboards. Basically, we sought out and found every cobweb everywhere. 

It was the worst. Until it was done.

Once we were finished, the house sparkled and smelled good. We felt refreshed and renewed down to our souls. We could be confident that there were no spiders in the corners building a fortress unto themselves. Wow, that was comforting.

I remember asking why we took communion so seriously in the little church where I was raised. And someone said it was a time for spiritual housecleaning. During these weeks leading up to Easter, this is where I want to be.

In addition to my regular routine, I want to dive deep. I want to move the spiritual furniture of my heart and sweep out the dust bunnies. I want to clear up the windows of my soul from the murky view that I presently have. I want to get down on my knees to wipe down the baseboards of my heart and clear out all the cobwebs. I want to look for places where I have permitted intruders to build fortresses in my life. 

This is a year of focus. 2020. It might involve a more concentrated time examining where God is working in my life. It might include a time of fasting in order to focus on seeing Jesus.

Weirdly enough, fasting has this effect on us. Now if your idea of fasting is to give up a certain luxury or personal vice, like chocolate – this may not hold true. But the fasting described in scripture refers to depriving ourselves of personal sustenance, biological fuel. And when our bodies are deprived of necessary nourishment, our senses become sharper. We hear more acutely, and we become more sensitive to our surroundings. And the Spirit of God breaks through our fog a little more easily. Fasting brings focus.

So in an effort to see Jesus – in our own lives and in the lives of those around us— let’s do some spring-cleaning.

Over the next few weeks, you can find reflections here at vineyardrichmond.com. Use them to prompt yourself to focus on your faith in a fresh way. Each week we will consider a different theme as we build up to the resurrection event. On Mondays, we will draw your attention to a biblical focus on a character in the gospel accounts. On Wednesdays, we will reflect personally on how that theme affects our spiritual lives. On Fridays, we will focus outwardly as we consider how God is inviting us to engage the world around us for his kingdom. If what you are learning is meaningful to you, click one of the share buttons at the top of these posts to share it with your friends. Let this be a time of personal reflection and careful examination of our own hearts and minds.