牧者心聲
「復活」也要儀式感嗎？
潘建堂牧師
2023 年 4 月 8 日 / 9 日
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近年聽過一個用詞：「儀式感」，意思是將日常行為儀式化，以便為其賦予意義，特別指到使某一天與其他日子不同，又或使某一時刻與其他時刻不同。如果要我從這個角度去回答：「『復活』也要儀式感嗎？」我會說：「既『是』也『否』。」
雖然福音派教會不像禮儀教會那樣採用整個禮儀年曆，但普遍也會對復活節這節期積極看待。在基督教文化的影響下，復活節多少也使公民生活起了變化，締造了一些公眾假期，因此一般人對「復活節」這字詞並不陌生。作為福音派教會，我們應該善用這個節期去傳福音，因為在公民生活中這日子是與其他日子不同的，而基督徒一般都希望這節期能在公民生活中保留。
對信徒來說，基督的復活於救恩具有關鍵性的意義，保羅曾說：「若基督沒有復活，我們所傳的便是枉然，你們所信的也是枉然。」（林前十五 14）雖然基督必須經過死亡才能復活，但基督若只是死了而沒有復活，祂的死便失去救恩的終極意義。故此，預苦期最終預備的不是受苦（雖然我們該效法基督的受苦），而是預備復活。進一步說，我們應該從復活節的角度來體驗預苦期，而復活節不但與其他日子不同，更是與其他「節期」不同。
我們或會說，聖經中只有述說復活的真理，卻沒有記載復活節。這並不表示初期教會不重視基督復活，相反，他們比我們更加重視，因為對他們來說，每個主日都是基督復活的日子，因為基督是在七日中的第一日復活的，所以星期日稱為「主日」。在初期教會，基督復活的意義，不僅見於每個主日的聚會，更流露在基督徒的生命中，保羅說：「也不要將你們的肢體獻給罪作不義的器具；倒要像從死裡復活的人，將自己獻給神，並將肢體作義的器具獻給神。」（羅六 13）又說：「然而，叫耶穌從死裡復活者的靈若住在你們心裡，那叫基督耶穌從死裡復活的，也必藉著住在你們心裡的聖靈，使你們必死的身體又活過來。」（八 11）
因此，基督復活的意義，不只是讓我們的生活多添一份儀式感或建立一種基督徒獨有的生活特色，而是叫我們每天過得像個從死裡復活的人，還有，是要我們去幫助未信者建立這份儀式感，使復活節成為福音的橋樑。
I recently came across a term "ceremonialize." It means adding a sense of ceremony to an everyday activity to make it meaningful, especially to make a certain day different from other days, or a certain moment different from other moments. From this perspective, if I were to answer the question "Does 'resurrection' need to be ceremonialized?" I would reply: "Both 'yes' and 'no'."
Unlike liturgical churches, evangelical churches do not adopt the entire liturgical calendar. Nevertheless, most of them favor Easter. Under the influence of the Christian culture, Easter has led to some changes in civic life, creating some public holidays. This is why people in general are familiar with the term "Easter." As an evangelical church, we should make good use of this festival to spread the gospel. It is because this date is different from others. Christians invariably want to keep this festival in civic life.
To believers, the resurrection of Christ is key to His saving grace. Paul has said: "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Corinthians 15:14). It is true that Christ must die before He can be raised. But on the other hand, if Christ died without resurrection, His death will be meaningless for the ultimate saving grace. Therefore, Lent does not ultimately prepare us for suffering (although we should imitate Christ's suffering) but for the resurrection. We should experience Lent from the perspective of Easter. Not only is Easter different from other days, it is also different from other "festivals."
We may notice that while the Bible conveys the truth about the resurrection, there is no mention of Easter as a festival. But this does not mean that the early church did not attach importance to the resurrection of Christ. On the contrary, they did so more than us. To them, every Sunday is the day of Christ’s resurrection because Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, so Sunday is called "the Lord's day." In the early church, the meaning of Christ's resurrection was not only reflected in meetings on each of the Lord's day but also in the lives of Christians. Paul said: "Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness" (Romans 6:13). And "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you" (8:11).
Therefore, the meaning of Christ's resurrection does not only add a sense of ceremony to our lives or let Christians establish a unique lifestyle. Rather, it is for us to live every day as someone who is raised from the dead. It is also a call on us to help unbelievers to establish this sense of ceremony so that Easter can become a bridge to the gospel.
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