It’s hard to believe that this is only our second Easter @ The Gathering. It was awesome to see great crowds of people coming in with great expectations, and leaving, celebrating the real hope that we have in the here and now world of Jesus Christ.

We launched our new series, “7 Ways Weird Families Work” today, explaining that Easter is all about 2 important, world-changing ideas: the idea of redemption and reconciliation.

Jesus died and was resurrected in order to complete God’s plan of redemption, to buy back that which was lost through separation and sin; and then once redeemed, to reconcile. These are the two fundamental tools we all use in our relationships today.

In today’s message we gave three stark contrasts about Easter.

1. Easter is about relationships, not religion. Religion is about rules. It’s about coming to God your way. It’s man’s attempt to bully God. Christianity is about a relationship made possible by redemption through Jesus Christ.

2. Easter is about redemption, not reform. Religion is about moralism, trying to do better. Christianity is about ethics. It’s not what we do for God, but what God has done for us. In other words, Christianity is spelled, “done,” while religion is spelled, “do.”

3. Easter is about reconciliation, not restitution. This is key when you think about your core relationships in life, your inner circle, your family. Because if restitution is what you demand, separation is what you’ll always get. If revenge is in your heart, then there will be no joy or connection in your family relationships.

As you follow along in this 8-week journey, one of the ways we’ve made it easy is to create a web site, weirdfamilies.com. Go there, sign up, and receive all eight weeks of this email series to discuss with your family, or in your small group.