Lent and Easter

The onset of spring, lambs, chicks, chocolate eggs, flowers, hot cross buns …. or a crown of thorns, hammer and nails, a splintering cross, a stab in the side, a rolled away stone, a time of confusion …. I sometimes wonder as to what are the most prominent Lent and Easter images, even for those of us in the church. Christmas gets the more prominent press and popular acclaim, yet there too, many have lost the reason for the celebration; but the Good Friday and Easter Day message is at the very centre of our faith. How can we make sure that it is given that place? I have been reading Stephen Cottrell’s little book “Godforsaken”, sub-titled, “The Cross – The Greatest Hope of All”. In so many ways, the sub-title says it all, though the question remains as to whether that is how we really see it. As Cottrell comments, “more words have been written about this death than any other. This death, so Christians believe, is no mere execution, but the unfolding of God’s purposes.” Cottrell also says, “amazingly, and despite its horrors, we worship at the cross. At the cross we see God’s love and the beauty and depths of God’s love in painful detail.” We are people of hope. As I often like to say, we are ‘Easter People’. However, it is useful to note Cottrell’s reminder that, “before we can get to the resurrection, we must stand at the cross.” Standing at the cross is a good reminder of the importance of discipleship. We can, and should, celebrate the sheer wonder of God’s love, but we should also remember that God calls us to be the Body of Christ in the world in which we live. We are to be as the hands, feet, mouth, ears of Christ – and we do that by offering God’s love to those whom we encounter in practical ways. This does not need to be a matter of doing big things all the time. The little things are important and can combine to transform the society in which we live. I wonder what difference we might make if we focussed a little more on hope, if we tried a little harder to respond to others in the kind of way that we can imagine that Jesus did when he was here on earth. I wonder what Jesus wants to ask of us in being his disciples. One approach that can help our reflection on such matters is to imagine ourselves into some of the stories. What would it have been like to be one of the disciples at that upper room meal? What would it have been like to be in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested? What would it have been like to be part of the crowd asked by Pilate what to do? To be in the courtyard noticing Peter getting warm? To be out fishing and seeing Jesus, only you didn’t know it was him, on the beach? To be walking that road to Emmaus? All those things happen in their own way today. What do we do with the situations in which we find ourselves, the circumstances in which God places us? May the God of hope inspire, challenge and encourage you in the discipleship to which you are called!