Dear Friends
Easter is unusually early this year. Three months after singing our favourite carols and hearing the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem we shall be celebrating his resurrection. Our churches expect to welcome more than the average number of worshippers at Easter, but it is unlikely that attendances will match the large number of people of who poured through our doors for Christmas carol services. The appeal of Christmas is easy to understand. We retell a story that tugs at the heartstrings and at the centre of it all is a baby. The story of a man being raised from the dead seems harder to grasp, and the real sticking point for many, I guess, is that you can’t have a resurrection without a death. This particular death was about as horrible as they come. A young man arrested on a trumped-up charge, convicted without a shred of evidence, sentenced to death for reasons of political and religious expediency. Tragically, this kind of innocent suffering has been, and continues to be, repeated many times over, all around the world. Victims of humiliation, torture and abuse can identify with the man on a cross. Those who are burdened with shame, guilt and remorse are drawn to the crucified Saviour who takes away the sin of the world and reconciles sinful humanity to a holy God. Those who live comfortable lives, and who believe that they are so respectable that they have no need of forgiveness, cannot grasp that Jesus died for them too. None of us measures up to the perfection of Jesus and none of us is blameless, for we are fallen human beings living in a fallen world.
This is why the Gospel is Good News! Jesus gives us a way back to God and offers us new life. The passion of Christ, his death and resurrection, is as much about putting to death our sinful self and being born anew in Christ to live in the light of his love here and now as it is about a hope of heaven one day. Jesus offers us eternal life and it begins the moment we put our faith and trust in him. Eternal life goes on into the next life when we shall be with the Lord for ever. Most people want to believe that there is a more wonderful dimension of life beyond this earthly existence. So why don’t more people want to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ? The resurrection demonstrates that death is not the end. Jesus is the Lord of life and he calls us into new life. We should live as a people whose hope is of heaven one day. That doesn’t mean being so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. It does mean that in any situation where all seems hopeless we can see the potential for new life. Through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us, we can make a difference in our community. As the Holy Spirit transforms our lives, so we shall long for the transformation of society, which is nothing less than seeing the coming of the kingdom of heaven on earth. We pray for that every time we say the Lord’s Prayer.
I will conclude with some words of Desmond Tutu:
Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate;
light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death;
victory is ours through Him who loved us.
May you know the truth of those words, and the joy of our risen Lord this Easter.
With my love and prayers
Glynis Hetherington
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