Does the Church believe in Resurrection?

          We don't like to die.  In fact, we avoid the end of life like it could kill us.  But the core of the gospel message is that death is not the end, it is the beginning.  The central moment of Christ's life isn't his triumphal entry into Jerusalem or his feeding of the 5,000, but his lonely death on the cross. 
          Why is this moment the climax of the gospel?  Because it exhibits a love that is eternal, victorious, and powerful.  By laying down our lives, we will find eternal life.  Jesus puts it this way in John 12:  "²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.²⁵    Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." 
          Do we believe this? Do we actually believe that if we try to survive we'll actually die and that if we lay down our life we'll actually live?  Such a paradox takes tremendous faith in a God that we cannot see.  Jesus had this faith with his own life and ministry.  And his faithfulness was rewarded with the Resurrection.  He laid down one life to take up another life.  He had faith that dying was the gateway to living. 
          I believe the modern church has come to a time when it must choose to die if it is going to live.  The mainstream institutional church must give up its current form and die if it has a chance of living in a new form down the road.  But we must not die because it is our only way to live, we must die because we have a savior who died and He is also our Lord, Master, and Guide.  We must die not just as individuals but as a church if we are to follow in the way of Jesus. 
          It will take tremendous faith for the church to realize that the most successful action it can take in the eyes of God is to lay down its life.  We think that by avoiding death and preserving the church as we've known it is honoring God, but it is actually an act of faithlessness. 
          We must die to church being about us.  We must die to a church with walls and beautiful buildings.  We must die to a church that exists to meet the needs of the saints rather than equipping them for the work of ministry in the world.  We must die to churches that are refugee camps for a people who are still fighting for a Christian culture rather than an alternative Kingdom.  We must die to spending our money and energy on things that make us comfortable.  We must die to the very way of doing church that many of us have come to call home over these last centuries. 
          But I believe that if we die to ourselves, we will find eternal life and the gospel will go on in ways we could have never imagined.  The church that dies is the church that is resurrected.  Do you believe in the Resurrection, Church?