Dear Friends

This month is one of the high spots of the Christian year. Lent draws to a close as we move into Passiontide, that is, the remembrance of our Lord’s road to the cross. On Palm Sunday we recall his humble entry into Jerusalem where the welcoming crowds were later to turn upon him and demand his death. We move on through Holy Week to Maundy Thursday when we remember both his institution of the Holy Communion at the Last Supper and his subsequent betrayal by Judas Iscariot.. Good Friday, of course, is the most sombre day of the Christian year because we see the effect of human sinfulness at its worst, and also feel greatly humbled by the price our Lord was prepared to pay to enable us to serve God in freedom. Easter Day itself is the great vindication of all that Jesus said and did when it became clear to those around him that even human physical death was no barrier to God’s power.

Although Easter is the triumphant Christian festival it never quite captures the public interest that is so characteristic of Christmas. Perhaps this is because more people are likely to be away at Eastertide than at Christmas. In addition, Easter does not have the same family associations of Christmas and New Year. On the other hand, it is a Spring festival which is properly associated with the countryside bouncing back to life after the Winter months. The buds begin to open, the garden is roused from slumber, there is more daylight and the world seems full of new potential and hope. This too is part of the message of the Resurrection: our Lord’s victory opens new doors for us. Life is more than its mundane material dimension. This dimension, so important to us at present, is but one constituent of a greater scheme.

The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is perhaps one of the most difficult Christian teachings for the modern mind to accept. I know from my own time at theological college that many clergy still struggle with this rather supernatural event. It is important to realise that the Resurrection is not about finding a risen or eternal quality in this life. It is actually about Jesus showing himself