May Blog 2025
I write this May blog less than a week after Easter when we celebrated Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. On Thursday I did an assembly, together with Matthew Poynton, at Lache Primary School explaining to the children the Easter Story. As the children were leaving a young girl aged about 8 came up and said, (I paraphrase) ‘do Easter eggs really represent the resurrection of Jesus’! What an amazing and thought-provoking question. I tried to explain that the egg itself became a symbol of the resurrection and just as Jesus burst out of the tomb, so the egg symbolises new life emerging from the eggshell.
Spring itself is a season where we see bulbs and shrubs bursting into life after the darkness of the winter months, and so just a few days after celebrating Easter, when Jesus has burst through the tomb, overcoming death, and bringing colour and light and new hope to all creation and humanity, I wonder what it means to you – that Jesus is alive?!
My Bible reading this morning was from Luke 24. Vv. 42 -49 (do look it up and read), where Jesus appears to his disciples. They are startled and terrified, with doubt in their hearts. Very quickly having seen his hands and his feet they are filled with joy but remain confused, and Jesus asks them for something to eat! He reminds them that the scriptures must be fulfilled, and that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations. They are to be his witnesses, but firstly they must wait in the city until they have been clothed with power on high.
We have a picture here of Jesus standing amongst his disciples bringing his peace, but also one of healing & restoration (repentance and forgiveness), and one of mission. But first they must pause and wait until they have been clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit.
I wonder whether this was a time for the disciples to reflect on all that had happened. Their desertion, betrayal, denial, fear, disbelief, confusion, doubt, slowly turning to joy, belief and understanding. Was it time for them to repent and remember Jesus’ last words to them and the whole world, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’. Was it a time of healing and restoration in readiness for the mission that Jesus was calling them to. Surely, they had to be as right as they could in order for themselves to go out to all nations proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins. I imagine they spent many hours in prayer as they waited for that day of Pentecost, when their mission would begin, not in their own strength but in the strength of the Holy Spirit.
In these past few days, I have reflected more on what it means to me that Jesus is alive, and what it might mean for us as a church at St. Mark’s? Forgiveness and healing keep coming to my mind, as I believe that was of paramount importance for those first disciples as they waited obediently in Jerusalem. As they accepted the forgiveness of their Father, through the death and resurrection of His son, a process of restoration began, as their wounds of guilt, shame, the need to be first, envy, racism, and many other sins were slowly healed up and transformation from brokenness to wholeness was received and recognised.
The story of the paralytic man told in Luke Ch. 5 verses 17 to 26 Jesus asks the scribes and pharisees which is easier to say, ‘your sins are forgiven you, or to say stand up and walk’. It appears forgiveness and healing often go hand in hand in the ministry of Jesus. So, as I ponder on the truth that Jesus is alive, I wonder if as Easter people we need to take seriously the invitation of healing and forgiveness?
What sin lurks close under your skin, the one that implodes repeatedly? Do you know what triggers that anger, sharp tongue, lustfulness, greed, envy, covertness, self-absorption, bad attitude, addiction, etc, etc …………………….? Because often it is our pain, hurt, shame, lack of self-worth, things that have been thrown at us, said, done to us when growing up that cause that sin, and need to be healed by the power of the Holy Spirit. We all know that hurting people hurt others, and I believe God wants us to be healed, whole and holy Easter people.
Jesus is alive which is good news for all creation and humanity, and we are called to be his witnesses here in this parish of Lache-cum-Saltney, on our front lines, and wherever he calls us to be. But if we are hurting, broken, fractured Easter people it is more difficult to model Jesus’ Christlikeness. So perhaps we might have the courage to wait and pray this month of May asking the Holy Spirit to highlight to us where we need Jesus’ healing touch in our lives, and to seek prayer, counselling, and/or a good trusted Christian friend to help start that healing process, enabling us to continue to reach out enlarging the site of our tent as healed, whole and holy Easter people.
It was his last words on the Cross ‘Forgive’. And he wants his disciples of today to know His forgiveness so that we may forgive as he did and receive his healing. Alleluia!!
Easter Blessings
Hennie