Dear Friends,

As I write this, we are fast approaching Easter. Our tendency is to rush over the difficult things that happened to Jesus in his last days, the grief that his mother and friends bore, and we run full pelt into the Resurrection. The tradition of attending church on Good Friday is left to a few faithful people, perhaps because the topic for that day is just too hard!

We hardly ever talk about death except when someone we know is coming towards the end of life. Yet, death is an everyday fact of life, in nursing we believed that it is the final act of living. There have been various bits of research that have suggested that we have ‘professionalised’ death in this country, we have ‘forgotten’ how to accompany someone as they take their final breath. The result of this is that death happens behind closed doors or away in the hospital, those that are left behind in the community forget (perhaps, gladly so) that this is something that will one day happen to them. And rather than come to terms with the prospect that life is not forever, try and do everything they possibly can to prolong life.

Don’t get me wrong, I am in full favour of improved medical techniques and interventions. But, as a human being, I, as do friends, family, colleagues need to understand that death happens at the end of life. Some lives are shorter than others for all sorts of reasons, some are longer though they wish it were not so. The life we have we must live.

Good Friday reminds us that that there is good and evil in the world. Good Friday reminds us that we as human beings can do unspeakable things to others. Good Friday reminds us that we do not need to be afraid of death. Jesus tells us:

““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

At the time the disciples were confused by what Jesus was saying, but then came the resurrection, and gradually as they experienced Jesus in their lives again, they came to understand that heaven is a very real phenomena and that eternal life is only possible through belief in Jesus. They were no longer afraid of death.

As we celebrate being an Easter people I pray that you too will experience new life in Jesus.

Grace and peace, 

Revd Caroline