April 2007
As I write this, I’m looking outside from a window that’s on the same level as the world around me. What a different perspective from what I’m used too in the old office. Looking out that window, I notice that it’s rather dismal and rainy outside; yet I can’t help but sense there is something more; something in the air. You can’t really put your finger on it, but you know deep inside that there is something building in intensity; you can sense that change is about to be unleashed on the world around us. That, for me, is the really sure sign that the frozen death like stillness of winter is about to come alive in the cavalcade of color and new life and freshness that is so much a part of spring. With spring, comes new energy and new hope; it’s almost like imagining the world around us as a slate and wiping it clean to start again with new colors and unrestricted potential. I apologize to all you winter sports enthusiasts who mourn the passing of winter, but spring, at least for me, is a welcome change.
When you think of all that is new with spring, how can you not be reminded of Easter? Is it simply coincidence that spring and Easter come at the same time of the year? I wonder. In a spiritual sense, Easter marks the spring of our lives. Just as spring marks restoration with the bursting forth of new life on this earth, Easter marks the restoration of true life for us through our restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ. With the building darkness of Holy Week, it would have seemed that all expectation would end in hopeless dismay with Jesus’ death on Good Friday; a sort of spiritual winter. But that wasn’t God’s plan. After three days, on a Sunday morning, came a new and unquenchable hope through Christ’s victory over the grave and ultimate victory over sin and death on that first Easter morning.
What an unexpected surprise for those who thought all hope was gone. They didn’t understand yet what Jesus had taught them; that it was only though death that there could be victory. What a victory for them and for us. Lent gives us each an opportunity every year to reassess just how wonderful that victory truly is both on individual and corporate levels. It gives us the opportunity to come to a better understanding of just how much God loves each and every one of us; enough to send His son into the world to live among us and teach us and to save us.
Too often we take the victory we have for granted and we forget the cost. That’s the pitfall we risk with the empty crosses we hang in our sanctuaries and our homes. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t celebrate the victory we have in Christ; that we shouldn’t be Easter people. But I am saying that we must also remember the cost that is beyond measure. We must remember that Jesus ultimately sacrificed everything. We need to remember that that cross wasn’t always empty. We need to remember that he suffered and died on our behalf; not that we deserved it in any way, but that he loved us enough to give all, including his life, to be able to offer us newness of life. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him; to offer all that we are in response for what he has done for us. Jesus said that if we truly we love him, we will keep his commandments. There will be times when obedience to Christ will call for sacrifice on our part; at times painful sacrifice. We need to be ready, willing and able in our obedience. We need to not only be Easter people, but also people of the cross. Remember this Easter just how much God has given us in his Son Jesus and be thankful. HE HAS RISEN, HE HAS RISEN INDEED!
Grace and Peace, The Rev. Rob Hughes
Links to other sites on the Web
Read other letters in our Archivies from Pastor Rob
Read other letters in our Archivies from your friend Pastor
John
Home Page
Keep checking back for updates. Thanks.
Special thanks for music go to THE CYBER HYMNAL
© 1997
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing