Thoughts From The Cottage
Dear Friends
How do you make something fresh and real when you have done it many times? As I get older birthdays become less important as do Christmas festivities, where I go on holiday, and many other things. Sadly, the same issues confront the church in faith festivals. How do we celebrate Christmas, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost with a freshness and reality as if it was the first time we have done it? The situation is compounded by the need to help those who have never celebrated the reason behind the season to do so for the first time.
Those of us who have followed Tom Barlow’s excellent Lent course for Churches Together in B45 have tried to experience the events of what we call Holy Week as if we were Jesus and as if we were the disciples, the crowd, the religious leaders or the onlookers. We have then tried to relate it to our faith journey in 2018. Not easy, but very fruitful if we persevere.
Here at the Beacon we have our regular Easter worship on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day that will, God-willing, be moving, thoughtful and inspirational. This year we have the new initiative of a Good Friday Messy Holiday Club which will introduce children to Jesus and the real story of Easter. We also have 250 copies of Hope magazine to give away and Café church on Easter Sunday evening. There is plenty of opportunity to share the Easter story but first we have let it get under our skin so that we can live and breathe it. Come on a journey with me if you will.
The journey begins a few miles north of Jerusalem towards the end of March in AD30. Travellers are making their way towards Jerusalem in order to celebrate the Passover. Amongst them is Jesus who has travelled by foot from Nazareth with his disciples, some of his family and other followers, picking up more friends on the way. As they journey he chats to those around him, pauses to heal those in need and teaches the crowd by telling them stories. As they near the city Jesus sends two of his followers to fetch an unridden colt and he sits on it to ride the last few miles. In adopting the traditional manner of a King coming in peace the crowd recognise Jesus as a King or Messiah and yell their praises whilst throwing their cloaks and palm branches on the ground to make a carpet for him to ride over. Expectation is running high, many think he is going to overthrow the occupying Roman forces, the religious leaders become afraid of an insurrection and the consequent loss of their status and position. The atmosphere is a heady mix of joy, tension, excitement and fear.
Jesus enters the city and goes straight to the Temple where in the Court of the Gentiles he throws the money changers and sacrifice sellers out. For three days he teaches in the Temple Courts and spends the night with friends in a village just outside Jerusalem. For three days the crowd hangs on his every word and grows numerically. For three days the religious leaders get ever more angry with Jesus and seek ways to arrest him without causing a commotion. Read the gospel stories to get all the detail. On the fourth day Jesus remained with friends in Bethany taking time to pray and prepare himself. Finally on the fifth day, Thursday, preparations for the Passover were made and Jesus and his disciples went to an Upper Room in Jerusalem to share a meal together. We call that meal the Last Supper.
At the Last Supper Jesus continued to teach his disciples, washed all his disciples feet, told Peter he would deny ever knowing Jesus and told Judas that he would betray him. He spoke of his own death and subsequent resurrection. It was powerful., emotional and the disciples understood little of it. After the meal Jesus and his disciples went out to Gethsemane to pray as Jesus often did when he was in Jerusalem. It was here that Jesus was arrested by the religious authorities who were guided to him by Judas. The rest of the disciples ran away but Peter followed at a distance and denied knowing Jesus when challenged.
The following morning, Friday, Jesus was questioned by the religious authorities and by Pilate, the Roman Governor, who declared him to be innocent of any crime. Despite this but fearful of the Jewish authorities and a possible insurrection Pilate ordered Jesus to be crucified. This happened on Calvary just outside Jerusalem. His disciples, his mother and other followers watched. As Jesus hung dying there was a total eclipse of the sun and at the moment of his death the Temple curtain protecting the Holy of Holies was torn in two. The atmosphere was electric and the Centurion in charge of the crucifixion was moved to declare that Jesus truly was the Son of God. His body was taken from the cross and laid in a borrowed tomb.
The Saturday was a day of rest and nothing happened. When the women went to the tomb on Sunday morning it was empty. Jesus spoke to Mary, then to Peter. He walked the road to Emmaus road with other followers, he met the disciples in the upper room. Word spread through Jerusalem that Jesus was alive. Despair changed to hope, sadness to joy. This is what we celebrate, this is the cornerstone of our faith, this is part of the greatest story ever told – and it is truth not fiction. This is what we must share, not just at Easter but throughout the year.
Ian
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