Rediscovering the Sacred

Author’s Note: My upcoming epic ya fantasy trilogy, The Rose of Destiny Trilogy, focuses a lot on the sacred. So I chose that as the theme for this year’s thoughts on Easter.

Disclaimer: I don’t usually write pieces like this, as my readers are here for fantasy and romance adventures. But every Easter and Christmas, I put out some of my thoughts to celebrate my favorite times of year and what they represent. This particular piece is rooted very much in life in Western culture, but I pray that anyone reading might find it helpful.

I think that so many in our world read fantasy because we live in a world that has increasingly less meaning.

In general, society encourages us to live not for self-sacrifice or purpose…but for ease.

Our goal is to wear casual clothes for every occasion. In fact, we often think of ourselves as unfairly treated if we’re expected to dress up for some event. The joke that used to be a joke but is no longer a joke is the personal goal of many to live in their pajamas.

Marriages are suggestions and can be broken at the mere suggestion of boredom.

We decide eventually that holidays maybe aren’t as important as they were when we were kids, don’t really need to be celebrated. After all, what will happen if I skip? Aside from angry family members, nothing really.

And family is nice if they fit into the nice little mold that we desire, but we’re free to ignore them if they don’t.

Beyond the family, the less we can interact with our community, the easier life is. A computer screen is far preferable to waving at a neighbor or going to a meeting. And church is far more enjoyable if we don’t have to actually greet anyone.

Life, social media tells us, is all about us and making ourselves happy. Living lives of ease and luxury is the ultimate fulfillment. Being comfortable at all costs. Any personal deficit isn’t really bad. We make mistakes, not sins. And when all else fails, need more time to focus…on ourselves.

Now, I’m certainly not trying to throw stones here. I’m as guilty as the next person for whining about putting on pants. (I hate pants with a fiery passion. Give me a sun dress any day.) And full admission, one of my favorite places is my bathtub when it’s filled with essential oil epsom salts with a new book calling my name. And it’s far easier to read the next Instagram post than to open the prayer-request email the church sent out several nights ago.

But in making life as comfortable as we can be, with every ease at our fingertips, we begin to lose what makes those things so special. When everything is easy…very little is special. When the world revolves around us, we realize it has very little meaning indeed.

So why would this chase us to read fantasy?

Because in fantasy, the stakes are high. In fantasy, the hero’s choices really mean something, in that they generally mean life or death not only for the heroes themselves and their families and friends, but for entire kingdoms. Sometimes, the entire world.

As kids, my brothers and I and our friends would find random sticks in the woods, and suddenly, we were the hobbits, taking the ring to Mount Doom. Do you remember that feeling? Donning a blanket cloak and hiking through the blizzard in the Misty Mountains? One of you would fall and cry out that he’d been hit by an arrow, and the others would tug him up, crying that they wouldn’t leave him behind as you tried to remember Arwen’s Elvish words of healing.

Do most of us want to be covered in blood and sweat without a shower for months at a time while the fate of the world rests on our shoulders? Probably not.

Again, in all honesty, I like my bed and blankets and air conditioner.

But as we make our way in this world that stresses personal comfort and ease at all costs, we realize that we’re missing something. Sure, curling up in a Snuggie with the laptop on the couch every evening might be comfortable and easy. But it’s very easy to lose the meaning of life when our world becomes the internet and we strive as much as possible to operate outside the bounds of space and time. And in losing the meaning of life, we lost what’s truly important.

And yet, we find ourselves drawn to Aragorn as he runs at his deadly foe with a shout.

We watch with bated breath as Harry fights back against the Dementors.

We weep as Artham Wingfeather fights to find his way out of the prison Peet has become.

Then we close the book…and return to the mundane, wishing we could take a piece of that meaning with us.

Well, I’m here to tell you that there is meaning in this world. And Easter is the perfect time to find it.

Why Do I Celebrate Easter?

I know not everyone does celebrate Christ’s resurrection at Easter, and I would never try to force someone to do so. But…I believe you should.

As we’re all book lovers, let’s look at the life of Christ in a typical story-form fashion. I’ll make it a tad shorter than the Bible. (Although, the Bible is better.)

In the beginning, God made all that has ever been created, water and land, the heavens and the earth, day and night, animals and birds. And then He made His crowning glory: People.

They were made “imago Dei,” which means in the image of God. Not the physical image, for no Person of the Trinity had a body at that point, but God gave man something He didn’t give any other part of His creation. He gave man a soul, and the ability of that soul to experience the range of emotions and thoughts as no other creature can. He gave them not only concrete thought, but abstract thought as well. He also gave man free will.

And with that free will, man was not satisfied. He chose to believe God’s enemy, Satan, and decided he wanted to become his own god. And in choosing to disobey God, man ushered in the darkness of sin. The world, which had been created perfectly, was now sick. Humans, from the moment they were born, would begin to die. Evil and hatred spread among humans. They hated God and one another.

We see this today, don’t we?

God, being just, couldn’t ignore this sin. Just as a good judge must punish a murderer, God had to punish the sin that humankind wrought. And yet…in His mercy, God chose to spare a remnant. For as man continued (and continues) to run as fast as it could in the other direction, God refused to punish all. Instead, He chose to punish…Jesus.

And Jesus was willing. The Second Person of the Trinity chose to come down to this earth and take on the form of the very creatures who hated Him. He chose to live the perfect life they could never live. He chose to die the death that we deserve, suffering separation from God the Father, being abandoned as we deserve to be abandoned by God. Christ suffered the damnation of Hell on the cross.

Though He was perfect, He allowed Himself to be falsely brought to trial, falsely accused, lied about, spit upon, struck, and beat. But worse than the physical pain, He was willingly punished for every murder, assault, hateful word, hateful thought, abuse, snide remark, false idol, and every other sin His chosen ones had committed and would commit. For His children, He willingly became the very sin He so deeply despised.

God did this for us.

This, my friends, is as real as it gets.

But that wasn’t the end.

What is Easter?

Jesus didn’t stay dead.

For Easter is the day we celebrate Jesus Christ, the God-Man, Second Person of the Trinity, rising from the dead and conquering death and sin forever.

Jesus did as He prophesied that He would and rose from the dead. And in doing so, unleashed forgiveness and eternal life with Himself forever for those who believe in Him. This is the ultimate moment of triumph for the victor. The Hero sacrificed Himself for those He loved. Then, He returned to destroy, once and for all, the hopes of His enemies. And in doing so, created the happily-ever-after we could never have imagined on our own.

This is why my family dresses up on Easter Sunday and goes to church.

We could do it the easy way, I suppose, and watch the service on our TV in our pajamas. Or, if we so chose, could sleep in and watch it later. But no. I believe the Bible with every fiber of my heart. And I believe that one day, this world that we now see as mundane will pass away forever. A reality more real than we can imagine, something more vivid and full of life than even Mr. Tolkien or Mr. Lewis could ever conjure, is waiting for those whom God has chosen to love. And that life will have stakes like we can’t imagine, with eternal damnation on one side and eternal life with God on the other.

Praise God for Easter, opening the door to eternal life to sinners like me who had no hope of it on our own.

Because my family believes this, we set apart this day not as a chore or just one more thing to do, but as a celebration of the Sacred. We find meaning in what is set apart. We with our brothers and sisters-in-Christ worship the One who did this for us, who paid the ultimate sacrifice and conquered our greatest enemy. It is a joy to worship and celebrate this day.

And I encourage you to do so, too.

Another fantasy author moment, but one of the important parts of worldbuilding is choosing how to commemorate special events in that world. Weddings, funerals, coming of age, holidays, etc. It’s an interesting exercise that really lets you explore characters and decide what they find important in their world. And as a reader, I mean…

Admit it. You’d totally freak out if you were physically to attend Dumbledore’s funeral and raise your wand. And you probably wouldn’t even want to wear pajamas. Please and thank you for my Hogwarts robe!

In this world, when faced with two paths…consider emulating your favorite fantasy characters by not taking the easy road out. The easy road itself isn’t bad. Sometimes, we need it. Our bodies, sadly, have been touched by sin and its effects, and sometimes, we need to rest and heal. But when you can, celebrate the Sacred. Commemorate the extraordinary. Dress up to mark an event as important. Meet your friend at a coffee shop instead of texting all the time. Go to the ladies’ church function. Serve someone else in a way that inconveniences you for the sake of loving them.

What we give our energy and effort to will prove to ourselves and others what is most important to our hearts.

That’s why this Easter–and every Lord’s Day, really–I dress up with my family and go to church. Yes, God commands it in the Ten Commandments. But church isn’t a chore. It’s a time to worship the One I love most, to confess my sins, and to experience forgiveness yet again. To celebrate Him and His love for us with my fellow believers. It’s a time to experience, in a small way, eternity. Every week, I’m blessed to rediscover the Sacred.

Because, in reality, life really isn’t that mundane. It may not seem like it, but like our fantasy heroes, the choices we make affect so many more than ourselves. And if we pull our heads out of the comfort-seeking patterns we so easy fall into, we can find that truth everywhere we look. We realize that we have to answer hard questions about life and death and the eternity after. What is good, and why is it good, and why should we seek it? What is truly evil, and how do we face it? Why does what I do matter in this world?

I read recently, “Fantasy is mainly about being someone more,” (Truby, John, The Anatomy of Genres, pg. 525).

Fantasy is what we read when we want to experience being someone more. But you don’t need to read about it to experience that. Seeking the truth outside the mundane is a journey we must all begin here and now. Don’t sleep as it passes you by.