REFLECTIONS


These pieces are written each month by members of our clergy team.

April Parish Magazine Leader:

 April sees our gardens coming back to life after much seems to have died off. It is also the month that enables us once again to enjoy more light during the day, now that the clocks have sprung forward. New life and the darkness dispelled - sounds like Easter to me.

Now with much in our world to make us think that death and darkness seem to prevail and that we have little cause for hope or dare I say joy, I want to say, “Hang on a minute.” Can you recall those moments when somebody says: “I’ve got some good news and some bad news?” All too often we want to take the ‘bad news’ first. Let’s get this over with. It’s like that which is ‘bad’ must take precedence over that which is ‘good.’ However, there is much good in our world. The beauty of creation never ceases to amaze me. How a small flower can push its way through the earth it finds itself in and blossom. There are so many things that may cause us not to blossom and flourish and some will never find that element in their lives because of their circumstances. Sometimes it may be that they are afraid. Fear can crush the life and spirit out of a person.

Now Jesus, during his earthly ministry told his followers “Do not be afraid” e.g. Luke 12:32 & John 14:27. In the lead up to Holy Week (Palm Sunday to Easter Day) there are several moments where Jesus will have been afraid, after all he was human BUT he knew he would return to the Father. He knew that on the third day after being crucified, he would rise again. I believe that shaped his capacity to face his fears in the knowledge that all would be well. There was nothing that could separate him from the love of God. I believe that to be true for us: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Romans 8:38-39). That is why I believe we can rejoice in the risen Lord at Easter time.

I have some good news and some good news - ‘Give me the good news first.’ Jesus is alive and risen from the dead. ‘Now give me the good news.’ You can live a blessed life, and you need not fear anything, even death, because Jesus has overcome the sting of death. Just like the flower bursting through the earth against all the odds, we too can have that new life in Christ Jesus, against all the odds. From the Easter Liturgy; “Alleluia. He is Risen - He is Risen indeed Alleluia!”

However you celebrate Easter (with chocolate or flowers; champagne or tea and cake) remember the Good News of Jesus Christ and if you are able, do join us at St Giles or St Nicholas. Full details on line and pages 2 and 8 in this magazine]

Paul

Lord Jesus, You came to save the world from fear and darkness. Help us to live that risen life you promised, so we and all your children can be free and the whole earth live to praise your name. Amen

Reflection:

Welcome to this month’s Bulletin, it is good to be writing to you again after our break in March.  The main thing that I want to share with you in this Bulletin is the message of Easter and Christ’s Resurrection, above you will have read Luke’s version of this momentous event. What are we to make of it all?  

The Resurrection of Christ lies at the very heart of the Christian faith and it is the reason why Christianity exists at all. As St. Paul writes:  

‘If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and so is your faith.  If Christ has not been raised then our faith is futile and we are still in our sins.’  1 Corinthians Chapter 15.  

Without the Resurrection of Christ Christianity would have died out when its founder, Jesus, was executed on the cross.  The disciples would have gone back to their former jobs and no more would have been heard of them.  However, the discovery of the empty tomb and the disciples' encounter with the risen Christ was the event, the only event, which had the power to transform a group of dispirited men and women into a force that would change the world.  This is true in every generation of the Church's life and to put it frankly, if Christ was not raised and alive today, I would have better things to do on a Sunday morning than preach about a dead moral leader!  

The Resurrection is not just about Christ, it is also about us, as St. Paul writes:  

‘For if by Adam death reigned through one man, how much more will all those who receive God's abundant gift of grace and righteousness have the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.’  Romans 5.

Furthermore Jesus says in John's Gospel chapter 6:  

‘For it is my Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and puts their faith in him shall possess eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’  

Some people do not believe that there is anything beyond death and that when we die that is the end of us.  Others believe that we are naturally eternal and that eternal life is somehow an inherent right and they would project onto the sky whatever they would want heaven to be.  But desire is not the same as hope.  We might desire to live and survive the finality of death, but that is different than placing our hope on Jesus, the one person who we know from eye witness accounts was raised from the dead and appeared to many people afterwards.  

Resurrection starts with our own powerlessness, the powerlessness of our own mortality, for we have no power over our ageing and decline and our inevitable return to the earth.  Jesus on the Cross, is the ultimate symbol of all that is powerlessness.  Life from such a state seems almost inconceivable, that is why resurrection is and can only be a gift from God to us in our powerlessness.  God's love which is the most powerful force of all raises us from the finality and powerlessness of death. There comes a time for all of us when we will have no power to help ourselves and no one else can help us beyond the grave.  Jesus did not raise himself; he was raised to life by His heavenly Father, who loved him and vindicated him.   

Easter shows us that resurrection is in the mind and power of God, it is within God's very nature to reveal the indestructible nature of love.  For if we love God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us then we already have eternal life and what happens to us physically does not and cannot extinguish that Divine relationship between us and our Heavenly Father  

The experience of death is one of loss, grief, pain and separation, the experience of Easter is one of love, joy, peace and hope.  Easter proclaims that God's love is ultimately stronger and more hopeful than any experience of human suffering and even death itself.  As Paul writes in Romans chapter 8:  

‘For I am convinced that nothing in death or life or in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’  

Wishing you all Happy and joyous Easter!