Don’t Hit Snooze

I learned something this week that feels both deeply important and completely unnecessary: most alarm clock snooze buttons are set to last about 9 minutes. Not 10. Not 5. Nine. Apparently, it goes back to old mechanical clocks that couldn’t quite make a clean 10-minute reset. Something to do with the gears. So instead of fixing it, we all just…accepted it. For generations. Entire civilizations have been built on a 9-minute delay.

Which got me thinking: we human beings are remarkably good at settling for “close enough.” Nine minutes instead of ten. “I’ll start tomorrow” instead of today. “One more snooze” instead of getting up. We’ve all been there. And if we’re honest, that instinct shows up in our spiritual lives too. We snooze on forgiveness. We delay generosity. We put off reconciliation. Been there too. We live like we’ve got endless “later.”

But Easter has a funny way of interrupting all of that. Because Easter is God’s declaration that this is not a “snooze button” kind of world. It’s a resurrection kind of world. In Gospel of Matthew 28, the women go to the tomb expecting death to still be in charge. They weren’t looking for a miracle. They were looking for closure. But instead, they hear the words: “He is not here; he has risen.” That’s not a delay. That’s not a “check back in 9 minutes.” That’s a complete, history-altering, life-changing reversal.

Easter reminds us that God doesn’t deal in “almost.” God doesn’t offer partial life, or delayed grace, or a spiritual snooze cycle. God raises the dead. Which means that thing you’ve been putting off? It might be time to get up. That relationship that feels beyond repair? Resurrection says otherwise. That part of your life that feels stuck, buried, or finished? Easter says, “Not so fast.”

So, this Sunday, as we gather to celebrate, maybe the invitation is simple: Don’t hit snooze. Okay, maybe once before the Sunrise Service. But not on hope. Not on grace. Not on the new life God is offering right now. Because the tomb is empty, and that means God is already awake and at work. And maybe… it’s time for us to be too.

May God hold you,
Rev Chris Hester