Embodying a Fuller Story
Adventist congregations do not typically follow the liturgical calendar—less, it seems, because of explicit opposition and more because it simply was not a feature of our liturgical roots. It would be uncommon for Christmas or Easter to pass without at least thematic acknowledgment in sermons, but anything beyond that is rarely seen in Adventist churches. Setting aside the broader question of whether it would be wise to draw on the structure and themes of the liturgical calendar in planning worship, this calendar embodies a key value we would do well to prioritize: worshiping in a way that tells a more complete story of God’s redemptive work and our human experience.
In practice, Christmas without Advent can mean we celebrate the Incarnation—God with us—without fully reflecting on the prophetic developments, suffering, and hope of a world in waiting, and a God who also meets us there. Our approach to Easter is often similarly reductive.
Over the next several days, many Christians around the world will be rehearsing the story of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and new life for the world over multiple gatherings—from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday. Many Adventist churches, on the other hand, may attempt to tell this entire central Christian narrative in a single Sabbath morning worship service.
Whether in multiple gatherings or a single gathering, here are some ways we can embody a fuller story of Jesus’ dying and rising in our worship practices:
Before celebrating Jesus’ victory over death, consider how we might more fully reflect on His participation in it. We can participate in Jesus’ resurrected life because He participated in our suffering and death. Christ’s crucifixion is the divine work of God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves and of God fully identifying with us in our human experience of suffering. People in a world full of heartache and injustice long to hear a fuller story of a God who understands, who has experienced loss and rejection, and whose love persevers in the face of every obstacle. As we plan worship, may we choose songs, prayers, and scriptures that honestly lament the realities of life in this world and recognize God’s self-giving, redemptive presence with us in the midst of them.
Between Jesus’ death and resurrection, His followers experienced what was surely an excruciating day of waiting. As Adventists, we are acquainted with the experience of unwanted waiting—of hope turned on its head, of disillusionment and doubt. People in a world that continues to wait for Christ’s return need to hear a fuller story of how doubt and still-unfulfilled promises show up in the life of faith. An unfinished story is not a hopeless one, although it may feel that way at times. As we plan worship, may we make space for silence, leave room for questions that don’t have immediate or tidy answers, and recognize that life is mostly middle. May we integrate songs, scriptures, and prayers that reflect a God who not only initiated our redemption and will restore all things, but who walks with us through the present valleys of uncertainty.
Adventists don’t typically worship on Easter Sunday mornings. Some congregations might host worship gatherings or outreach events like Easter in Central Park (one of the thousands of Pentecost 2025 events happening this spring). My congregation, however, created a uniquely Adventist celebration of the Resurrection—Resurrection Sabbath—exploring what worship might have been like on the first Sabbath after Jesus’ resurrection. As we plan worship that celebrates how Jesus defeated death, may we embody a fuller story, which did not begin and does not end with an empty tomb. We know that there were 50 days between Jesus’ resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Whether or not we want to call that season “Eastertide,” it’s certainly a perfect time to sing, preach, and pray about Christ’s resurrection and its implications for a new life in a still-waiting world.
