This letter is written for all those who would normally not consider coming to our Easter Day services on 20th April.
Clergy are quick to focus on Easter Day being centred on the resurrection of Jesus – I will return to that at the end of this. What I want to think about is what we see all around us at this time of year: new life bursting through after the slumber of winter. As I walk Lola through the woods in early March, the bluebell leaves have appeared seemingly out of nowhere and I look forward to soon seeing the carpet of blue. My garden is full not only of daffodils and snowdrops, but this year violets in abundance: tiny and so beautiful.
And then there is another truth: good and bad things happen in life. We have choice, not usually about them happening, but how we respond. As a parish priest I have often been amazed that in the most difficult and distressing of situations, people find a way of continuing to live and find hope in the midst of pain: though, I know, too, sometimes people feel just defeated by events in their lives – and that is a reason why sometimes we simply need each other to walk together without judgement.
The narratives faith or any belief system proclaims will only be worth listening to or following, if they resonate with truth.
Which takes me to Good Friday and Easter. Good Friday states the truth that sometimes terrible things happen – in this case a man who reached out in love to all, especially the marginalised and defeated, himself is led to the most ignominious and painful of deaths on a cross – where he knows both despair (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”) and hope, (“into your hands I commend my Spirit”). The central stained glass in Slindon’s beautiful east window, is Jesus on the cross, with his mother and others looking on in grief.
The disciples scatter – they have all failed by running away at this most critical time. Peter – the confident one “I will never leave you, though everyone else might” – denying Jesus three times to a servant. And then – a great mystery at the centre of the Christian narrative – those broken men experience Jesus risen, which propels them into a Gospel of hope and a life spreading the truth for which many of them, including Peter and Paul, were to give their lives.
It is a narrative which is true to our experience of life.
Of course, as a priest I can approach this from the other end saying why I believe the crucifixion and resurrection actually happened. (And if you would like that conversation just ask and we can discuss together).
And so, the church should be a place where we walk together, taking seriously and supporting those who hurt, being people together of hope and seeing the new life which the Christian faith sees in Jesus. A true story for living.
And, of course, enjoy the bluebells!
Peter