Loss Leader Easter Sunday
We’ve all seen the social media hyperlinks that entice readers to click on an advertisement or website by using a sensational or alluring headline. Clickbait exploits the curiosity by providing just enough information to pique the interest of the reader. The main purpose of clickbait is to attract attention, sometimes even at the expense of quality or honesty. The intent is that once visitors click on a particular site, they’ll see or experience something that causes them to stay and buy what you are promoting or selling.
Churches all over the world formulate plans for persuasive Easter worship services knowing they will potentially reach more attendees on that Sunday than on any other Sunday of the year. In an effort to entice more participation, some of those congregations plan gimmicks or hooks to get new guests in for the most meaningful day of the church year.
A loss leader is when a retail chain or business offers goods or services at a discount or below cost in order to draw consumers in. The strategy is that drawing them in will hopefully then lead them to buy additional items at a higher cost. So, when those first-time guests attend and realize that worship actually requires presenting their bodies as a living sacrifice, what methods will congregations then need to employ to keep them (Rom 12:1)? In that context, “you get what you pay for” actually means that whatever you reach people with is what you will reach them to.
If churches really affirm Easter as the most important celebration of the year and the foundation of our hope for the future, then why do they limit its observance to a single Sunday? Remembering the Resurrection only on Easter is like remembering your marriage only on your anniversary.
Easter in the early church was much more than a one-day event. They not only remembered and celebrated that Christ died and rose again but also remembered and celebrated that he appeared following his resurrection, that he ascended, that the Holy Spirit descended, and that Jesus promised to return again.
In their great joy the early church began celebrating with Easter and continued for fifty days. Seven weeks of remembering would allow our churches to go much deeper into the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost instead of trying to cram it all into one Sunday so we can move on to the next sermon series. Limiting it to a single day can give the impression that its observance is routine instead of righteous, chronological instead of christological. It can appear that we are giving lip service to the Christian calendar so we can move on to the Hallmark calendar of Mother’s Day, Graduation Sunday, and Memorial Day. Laurence Hull Stookey wrote, “The explosive force of the resurrection of the Lord is too vast to be contained within a celebration of one day.” Revisiting the mystery over an extended period of time could encourage a deeper understanding of redemption, sanctification, salvation, renewal, and victory.[1]
For his congregation, Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in New York City, William Marceus James (1913–2013) wrote, “Every day to us is Easter with its resurrection song. Even when life overwhelms us, Easter people sing this song.”[2] If we are indeed Easter people, then protracting our celebration could help us remember that the transforming resurrection of the past also transforms our present and future.[3] How could we possibly fully grasp that truth in a single day?
[1] Laurence Hull Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996), 53.
[2] William M. James, United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1991).
[3] John D. Witvliet, Worship Seeking Understanding: Windows into Christian Practice (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 290.
This post is adapted from David W. Manner, Better Sundays Begin on Monday: 52 Exercises for Evaluating Weekly Worship (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2020).