- Hits: 589
Paul Writes
"Warning, if you are reading this during Passiontide, the ‘'A word’ has been used!"
Warning, if you are reading this during Passiontide, the ‘A word’ has been used. I make no apology as this is a message about Easter Joy, but I do hope you will forgive me!
Rejoice, heavenly powers. Sing choirs of angels. O universe, dance around God’s throne! Jesus Christ our King is risen. Sound the victorious trumpet of salvation. These are opening words of the Exsultet, the special song for Holy Saturday Night; and through them I can imagine the heavenly powers rejoicing, the choirs of angels singing, the universe itself dancing around the throne of God. It may well be ‘mind blowing’, but it is exactly what happens!
Holy Saturday Night truly is the most holy of all nights, a night where the heavens and the earth are joined in excitement and joy, shouting out He is risen. He is risen! And each year, it fills my heart afresh with such joy and enthusiasm, and hope.
And my heart gets a double portion of joy because not only is He risen, but on that first Easter morning, it was the women who first knew. It was the women to whom the revelation came. On going to the tomb to do what they needed, what they wanted, to do, they found no body. Instead, they found the angel in dazzling clothes telling them he is not here. “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised as he said”. He is not here!
But even though Jesus had said it would happen, they had lost hope, they were so eaten up by grief that they’d forgotten. But these faithful women friends of Jesus heard it first, and even though they were at first frightened, after all, who wouldn’t be? They remembered what Jesus had said to them and they went off to tell the men.
I’m sure there have been times in all our lives when a piece of good news has knocked us for six, so amazing that at first you can’t believe it. It takes a while to sink in, and then you start to process it. Maybe getting a job you thought you didn’t have a real chance of getting, or some good health news when you had feared the worse.
Using that experience, just think how those women must have felt on finding Jesus gone. We might forgive them for being confused, for not joining the choirs of angels in songs of praise. It would have taken a little time to sink in. Then think about the conversation they must have had once they had left the tomb, helping each other to process it. What will we do with these spices now? How do we tell the others? Where has he gone? I can’t believe it – He is Risen! But they didn’t have to wait long because their beloved Lord met them on the road where they took hold of his feet and worshipped him.
The women now believing their eyes went to tell the apostles and they didn’t believe them. How could it be true? They would not have considered the women to have been thinking straight, too emotional, overwrought with their grief, hysterical! And that makes me feel really mad at them, how dare they not believe the women, how dare they think them hysterical? It was the women after all that stayed with him as he died, they were there, they saw and now they had seen him risen.
But to be fair to the men, it would have been a truth that was difficult swallow, just as it would have been for the women who actually saw it and received the news first hand, so perhaps we shouldn’t be too hard on the men, we ought to give them a break? After all, according to Luke’s account, Peter went to look for himself and was amazed, in John’s account, Peter and the disciple Jesus Loved went together to see. They were amazed, they were shocked, and I am sure they were afraid.
The days following the death of a close loved one are surreal, aren’t they? It seems odd that the world is still turning, everyone continuing with their daily lives whilst your own world seems to have been turned on its axis and is spinning in a way you can’t fathom. They were all in that place, the women, and the men; but they had the added dimension of having now to make sense of Him rising from the dead and all that that meant, all that would bring.
So, I do think the men, on this occasion can be forgiven for not believing. We though, have the benefit of being recipients of the resurrection news on good authority, it has been handed down to us through the ages, enshrined in scripture and doctrine, and yet, we too may sometimes find it hard to understand. For many of course it is just an unbelievable story; and like I can forgive the men in Jesus’ life, I can also understand the people who cannot and will not believe. And this is even more reason why those of us who do believe, despite how hard it may be at times, must bask in the awe and wonder of what has happened. He is risen!
Because his rising is the true sign of his promise to us of eternal life, when all will be made new, and we will with the heavenly hosts sing out in utter joy. He is Risen, He is Risen indeed. And so, friends, we must believe enough for everyone, and have hope for them too.
Rejoice, heavenly powers. Sing choirs of angels. O universe, dance around God’s throne! Jesus Christ our King is risen. Sound the victorious trumpet of salvation. Christ is risen from the dead, His peaceful light shines upon us, He lives and reigns for ever and ever. Alleluia!
Every blessing,
Paul.
- Hits: 649
Paul Writes
"What have you given up for Lent?
"This is a very common question in church circles at this time of the year, in fact it goes beyond church circles because many ‘non-church’, even non-Christian people use the season of Lent as a time to give things up. For some it will be a self-endurance challenge, for others the Lenten period offers a set time that helps them to get into the right “head space” for doing something they find challenging, such as losing weight or giving up sugar.
“What have you given up for Lent?”
Certainly, it is something I am asked, particularly so since ordination, and I wonder sometimes whether I am being asked this question as a test of my piety; and why shouldn’t people test me? After all, I stand there and preach every week about this and that, so I deserve to be put to the test! But there are two things that bother me about this question; firstly, it is about an individual, and secondly it is about giving something up instead of doing something.
I wonder if the question ought to be, “what are we doing for Lent?” It strikes me as far more Christ centred, and after all, as Christians we are not approaching this as a test of our endurance or because it gives us a chance to be good; we are surely approaching it as a way of entering more fully into the journey to the cross with our Saviour. The word ‘church’ comes from the Greek word ecclesia which the early Christians took on to describe themselves, and it simply means ‘gathering’, so I think that indicates we do things together, not alone.
This year then, the question on my mind is “what are you doing together as a church for Lent?” It is a much more positive question, a question that draws us in, a question that suggests it is not a personal endurance test. It is about collective and positive action. And is ultimately it is the question that is being considered this year in our Mission Community Lent course that looks at:
- Presence – being actively and visibly present in communities.
- Perseverance – investing in our communities
- Hospitality – building a culture of giving and receiving, openness and welcome.
- Adaptability – being open to challenge and change.
- Participation – inviting everyone to be part of what’s going on.
I know many people will not be able to commit to joining the course, and that’s okay, but I wonder if as a community, we might all commit to praying for those who are taking part as well asking them how it’s going? I also hope that these questions might help us as we move forward beyond Lent, so the question moves to “what are you doing as a church this year?”.
Every blessing,
Paul.