Vicars Letter
Easter
Easter is the time of the Church's greatest celebration; the most full outpouring of thanksgiving to God for what he has done. For in raising Jesus from the dead, God has transformed the whole of life; everything that was old, tawdry, painful, hard, despairing, is seen in a new light. God brings life out of death, life transformed, life changed so it is closer to God's original intention of a world in which all persons flourish.
The first three gospels portray Jesus death on the cross on the day of
the Passover Festival when God's first people celebrated their winning
freedom from Egypt. The Passover was always on the 14th day of the month
and so moved around between the days of the week. In time Christians
always celebrated Jesus resurrection on a Sunday, the first day of the
week, the day the creation of the world began, the eighth day, the day
of new life, the day of re-creation.
In the Christian tradition, one of the keys to living well is having
thankful hearts. As the 1662 prayer of general thanksgiving put it,
'..that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we show forth
thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up
ourselves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and
righteousness and righteousness all our days.'
Our celebration of all that God has done for the world in creation and
in the new creation at Easter will be all the greater the more we have
attended to the realities of the world in the days before the first
Easter: the great entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Last Supper
on Maundy Thursday, the trials and crucifixion on Good Friday and the
whole Pascal event on Holy Saturday evening. It is our whole
celebration of all these so significant events that deepens our
thankfulness as we see more clearly the wonder of God who did these
great things and has given us such wonderful gifts, above all the gift
of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. the gift of the
Eucharist.
If we are deeply thankful people we will be joyful people and that will
influence how we are, how we act and how others will see us. Being
deeply thankful for what God has done and still does, gives us the
resources and strength to deal creatively with the very real dark side
of life whether it is caused by natural factors such as disease, natural
disasters or caused by the bad acts of other people. God has raised
Jesus from the dead, the life of the world is transformed, we are deeply
thankful and live differently. Come, let us celebrate these great
events.
Christopher Morgan-Jones
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