About the Book
What’s the advantage of a Lenten study that starts at the empty tomb?
Easter Earthquake offers a fresh, energetic approach to Lent by focusing more on the hope of resurrection than emphasizing Lent as a somber, penitential season. This study explores the ways in which the resurrection of Jesus Christ shakes up some of our common assumptions and invites us into a new way of living—one energized by the life-giving presence of the risen Christ. Harnish’s insights will lead participants into a deeper relationship with God, a fuller understanding of the Passion, and a more vibrant experience of Easter.
What is included in this book?
This study is created for individual and group study starting on Ash Wednesday and continuing through Easter. Each week contains 5 readings, a prayer focus, suggestions for small-group interaction, and a hymn. The book also includes a guide for daily meditation and prayer, and an outline for small-group gatherings.
Register for the eCourse
19.99
Praise for Easter Earthquake
“Jim Harnish invites the devotional reader or study group to share a warm and winsome conversation about the nature of the journey through Lent to Easter. Blending classical with contemporary illustrations, he weaves tradition and relevance into a single trustworthy cloth of assurance and faith. Easter Earthquake is a gift from a pastor’s heart to all who seek to explore more fully the season the ancients called the springtime of the soul.”
-Rev. Paul L. Escamilla
Senior Pastor, St. John’s United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas
Author, Longing for Enough in a Culture of More
About the Author
The Rev. Dr. James A. Harnish retired after 43 years of pastoral ministry in rural, small-town, suburban, and urban congregations in the Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. He was the founding pastor of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando and served for 22 years as the senior pastor of Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa.
Widely recognized as a preacher and writer, Jim is a facilitator for the Institute of Preaching at Duke Divinity School and the author of more than 15 books. Jim served on the board of directors for the General Board of Discipleship and the General Commission on General Conference, was a delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences, and was a delegate to the World Methodist Conferences in England, Brazil, Kenya, and South Africa. He is a member of the Board of Visitors at Duke Divinity School and the Board for Africa Upper Room Ministries.
Jim and his wife, Martha, have two married daughters and five grandchildren in Florida and South Carolina. He enjoys reading, travel, playing with his grandchildren, and cheering for the University of Florida Gator football team.
Interview Info
This “interview” took place by email between Jim Harnish and Anne Trudel, editor and author relations manager, on February 13, 2018.
Why the empty tomb?
Most of the time, Lenten studies lead participants to journey with Jesus toward the cross. Why did you decide to reverse the focus and start at the empty tomb?
First, I was intrigued by Matthew’s description of the earthquakes on Good Friday and Easter morning as both a visual and visceral image of the difference these events make in human history and in our individual lives. My sense is that we tend to miss both of them because we are focused on either the physical details of both the cross and resurrection of the theological meaning they carry.
Second, I couldn’t help but agree with the words of N. T. Wright in “The Invitation” (pages 15–17, Easter Earthquake). In my own years in ministry, we focused too intently on the spiritual disciplines of Lent that emphasized the cross, with the result that Easter became the grand finale which is over by the time the lilies wilt. The truth is that without the Resurrection, the whole gospel loses its meaning. (See 1 Corinthians 15:12-19.) Centering our Lenten journey in the Resurrection enables us to see both the cross and our discipleship in a new way.
What are the benefits to the book?
What spiritual need does Easter Earthquake meet? How can new followers of Christ benefit from studying your book?
My hope is that by practicing daily reflection on scripture and by sharing in a small community, people will experience the presence of the risen Christ in their own lives and be called to a larger and deeper faith in the power of the Resurrection.
What are some key takeaways?
What are some key takeaways you hope readers gain from studying Easter Earthquake during Lent?
- The good news of the Resurrection really does shake the foundations of our lives and gives us a new way of seeing everything.
- The hope of resurrection is not just for individual human beings, but for the whole created universe.
- Some of the traditional resurrection hymns can still lead us into a deeper experience of resurrection.
How did you encourage people?
As a pastor, you no doubt observed that many people attend church on the “high holy days,” Easter and Christmas. What did you do to encourage them to come to church on ordinary Sundays?
First, we welcomed them! If folks show up only on Christmas and Easter, they are hearing the most important things the faith has to proclaim. Never disparage or make fun of them! Offer exceptional hospitality!
Second, we ended our worship series on Good Fridays and began a new worship series on Easter morning, always attempting to offer a theme that would connect with people’s needs and interests in the hope of drawing them back again.
Third, we used Lent as a time to both deepen the faith of more mature Christians and to engage beginners on the journey.
How to reach out to people?
How can congregations intentionally reach out to people who don’t normally attend church and meet them at their point of need? How likely is it for unchurched people to get involved in small-group studies around Lent?
It’s a long shot to hope that unchurched folks will engage in a small group during Lent, but it’s worth trying. Many people (particularly Boomers and former Catholics) who have been away from the church still carry some kind of instinctive tug to faith around Lent.
People generally will not find their way into a small group without a personal invitation from a friend. This is a great time to train active church folks to reach out to invite their friends to join them in the study.
Why did Jesus quote Psalm 22:1?
What is the significance of Jesus quoting Psalm 22:1 (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) while on the cross?
To declare “God was in Christ reconciling the world” (2 Corinthians 5:19) means that when Jesus offered this gut-wrenching cry, God entered fully into my God-forsaken life. God takes into God’s own life all of my experience of being God-forsaken. It does not mean that God “turned God’s back” on Jesus, but that Jesus took into himself all the brokenness, alienation, and suffering I experience. I think William Young got it right in the passage from The Shack that is quoted in the second week of the study.
What did you draw from Karl Barth?
There is a touching meditation on Monday of the Fifth Week in Lent called “Now and Then.” In it, you address the situation of a 31-year-old man dying of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. You mention turning to Karl Barth, an influential 20th-century theologian, as you were preparing for the memorial service. What reassurance did you draw from Barth?
First, that the really great theologians are honest about their own loss and pain. We don’t need to hide our hurt behind some thin veneer of piety.
Second, his interpretation of the “then and now” in 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 gave me (and the young man’s family) a way of knowing that we are not totally separated from the ones we love, even by death.
What would you like readers to know?
Is there anything in particular you would like readers to know about you or about your book?
I’m a pastor whose entire ministry has been soaked in the life of local congregations and in the lives of real people. I hope that this witness to the Resurrection also bears witness to the way we have experienced the risen Christ together.
What do you say to people who fear death?
What do you say to people who fear death (most of us) to reassure them?
I hate death. Even when it comes as a peaceful transition from this life to the next, I still agree with Paul that it is “the last enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26). I hate death, but because of the Resurrection, I no longer fear it. The angel’s promise to the women (“He goes before you” [Mark 16:7]) is the promise in which we face both life and death.
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