Monday 29 March 2010

NEWSLETTER APRIL 2010

‘Sometimes it causes me to wonder, wonder,
Were you there when they crucified, my Lord?’

Just as the old spiritual says, the climatic events of Jesus’ last days on Earth give us much cause to wonder as we relive and bear witness once again to Jesus’ Life, Death and Resurrection this Easter.

During these last seven weeks of Lent we have been thinking about ‘the People of the Passion’, people who were witnesses to Jesus’ Passion during his lifetime: people like the Centurion, the thief on the Cross, Pilate’s wife. But Jesus’ story is not trapped at one moment in time, trapped in the history books 2000 years ago. We can still encounter it, experience it and it can have life-changing effect on our lives today.

I wonder where you might be in the crowd, as you witness Jesus’ Passion: are you standing at the back, watching from afar off, liable to flee at the first sign of trouble, as the crowds and disciples largely did at Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gesthemene. Or do you find yourself in the thick of the action?: Welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem with great hope on Palm Sunday; being made incredulous by Jesus’ servant ministry, as he washes his disciples’ feet at the Last Supper; ‘beholding’ the glory of ‘the Man’, steadfast under question and steadfast under fire by the rulers; or, perhaps, feeling as if you have, in some way, betrayed your calling to completely live Jesus’ Way in your life, like Peter and Judas. Do you find yourself at the foot of the Cross contemplating God’s great love and forgiveness for the sins of the world, or startled by great joy as the Risen Jesus appears to you in a Garden or on a Beach.

This year we have a very full programme of events and services throughout the Benefice over Holy Week to help us not to linger at the back of the crowd, but to draw us closely in to Jesus’ Story, so that we may fully enter into the Easter Mystery, and to enable us to wonder afresh at God’s great love and salvation plan for each of us and the whole world.

We will travel with Jesus this Holy Week and as we will celebrate in Good Friday and Easter Day, the culmination, purpose and pinnacle of our Christian lives and faith. We will contemplate and wonder together, whether it be in joyous Palm Sunday Services or more contemplative Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Vigils, or as we welcome Christ’s Resurrection Light coming to us on Easter Day at Sunrise or in a beautiful Easter Morning Service. I pray that as Jesus’ followers today, as ‘People of the Passion’ today, that our experience and encounter with the Living Jesus, will restore our hope and trust in the purposes of God, who can overcome all things and makes all things new for all-time and for each of us in the Resurrection Dawn on Easter Day.

I wish you all a very Happy Easter,
Revd Nigel Marns
Rector: Ludgvan, Marazion, Perranuthnoe & St Hilary

No comments:

Post a Comment