Getting real with Easter eggs
The account of the resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith – and so central to my world-view, my spiritual life and even my day to day decision making. I accept, of course, that for many reading this piece the importance of the Easter events do not resonate and that the story remains just that – a story. The amazing thing though is that this ‘story’ has transformed the lives of countless millions of people over 2,000 years all around the world and is still changing people’s lives today as people claim to have encountered Jesus for themselves. You may or may not be one of them. If you would like to discover more about the Easter story, then there are churches and chapels that would be delighted to welcome you. But if that is not your scene – if you don’t want too do the church thing, and don’t accept the validity of the Bible account – I wonder if I can ask you to hold on to one possibility?
Can you hold onto the possibility of change?
Ours is an uncertain and often sad world, in which people are broken and despair is real. It was that kind of world that the women were living in that day on the way to the tomb. But in a moment everything changed for them. Hold on to that hope. The hope of a world transformed. The hope of a life turned around. A personal resurrection experience. For, even as it’s most basic level, that is the truth in the Easter story: despair turned to hope; sadness turned to joy; fear turned to courage; and death turned to life. And all of us could do with holding onto that!
As we crack open our Easter eggs and remember the open tomb, our curiosity to look inside the Easter story a little more (rather like those women) can bring new life into the old pattern for us too.
Happy Easter!
Canon Lynda Barley (Interim Rural Dean)
If you know the Easter story from the Bible, you will remember that the account of Easter Day itself began very early in the morning, whilst it was still dark. A few ladies were making their way to the tomb where they had watched Jesus buried a few days before. They came to make sure that Jesus was given dignity in his death. As they walked towards the grave it never occurred to them that day would be anything other than a day of sadness and grief: a day when their sense of hope – the hope they had placed in Jesus – would finally be demolished by the reality of death.
And yet, within a few minutes their lives were turned upside down. The story tells how they found the grave opened and the body gone. Then they met Jesus again. Risen.The account of the resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith – and so central to my world-view, my spiritual life and even my day to day decision making. I accept, of course, that for many reading this piece the importance of the Easter events do not resonate and that the story remains just that – a story. The amazing thing though is that this ‘story’ has transformed the lives of countless millions of people over 2,000 years all around the world and is still changing people’s lives today as people claim to have encountered Jesus for themselves. You may or may not be one of them. If you would like to discover more about the Easter story, then there are churches and chapels that would be delighted to welcome you. But if that is not your scene – if you don’t want too do the church thing, and don’t accept the validity of the Bible account – I wonder if I can ask you to hold on to one possibility?
Can you hold onto the possibility of change?
Ours is an uncertain and often sad world, in which people are broken and despair is real. It was that kind of world that the women were living in that day on the way to the tomb. But in a moment everything changed for them. Hold on to that hope. The hope of a world transformed. The hope of a life turned around. A personal resurrection experience. For, even as it’s most basic level, that is the truth in the Easter story: despair turned to hope; sadness turned to joy; fear turned to courage; and death turned to life. And all of us could do with holding onto that!
As we crack open our Easter eggs and remember the open tomb, our curiosity to look inside the Easter story a little more (rather like those women) can bring new life into the old pattern for us too.
Happy Easter!
Canon Lynda Barley (Interim Rural Dean)
PLEASE NOTE. This and all other entries in 'News and Notices' are usually listed in order of date published or amended.