We are here to help people love and worship God. We aim to be, and encourage others to become, committed and active disciples of Jesus,
who love God and worship him, who know the power of the Holy Spirit and who show God’s love in every part of their lives.
It will soon be Easter, and I for one am really looking forward to it. Easter is the most important feast in the Christian year. It is a celebration of hope, and hope is in very short supply at the moment!
Easter is the heart and soul of the Christian Faith. Without Easter there would be no Church, no Christianity. St Paul, writing not many years after Jesus death and resurrection said, “If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile.”
Without the resurrection, the story of Jesus’ life is just a human tragedy, and Jesus himself is no more than a mis-guided dreamer who died a needless death at the hands of the Romans.
We struggle to believe in the Resurrection - it seems like a fairy story, something just too good to be true.
We have no problem with the story of Good Friday when Jesus was deserted and betrayed by his friends. Desertion and betrayal are part of life in our world. We have no problem believing in the plotting of priests and politicians to put an innocent man to death on false charges. Sadly, that is just the way of the world. Nor do we struggle to believe in the cruelty and brutality of the guards and soldiers who crucified Jesus.
When we look at the Cross we see a reflection of the pain and sorrow of our world. Jesus’ final words as he died on the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” speak for many in the world who feel forgotten and abandoned by God.
Our problem is not with Good Friday; we do not struggle to believe in the cross. We struggle with Easter, with the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus.
There is evidence to support the empty tomb, mainly that the authorities were not able to stop the rumours of the resurrection by producing Jesus’ dead body. Some have argued that the disciples hid the body and then told a false story of Jesus being raised. But that is hardly plausible; they died, often painful deaths, because they refused to deny the resurrection. Would they all have died for a lie?
For me the most compelling reason to believe in Easter and the resurrection is the change in the disciples.
Before Easter they lived in fear. They deserted Jesus when he was arrested. Peter denied ever knowing him. When Jesus was dying on the Cross they were hiding, terrified that the soldiers who had arrested Jesus would be coming for them.
But only a few weeks later the disciples were changed, transformed. They refused to be silent when the same court that had condemned Jesus ordered them to stop proclaiming the resurrection. They said we will obey God and not you.
The disciples had seen in Jesus death is a defeated enemy. They saw that Jesus had suffered the worst of human evil and had not been defeated by it. As he died he prayed for his executors and when he rose from death he didn’t seek revenge, only that hope and forgiveness and life be proclaimed throughout the world in his name.
They lived the rest of their lives knowing that death is a defeated enemy and that the God who meets us in Jesus is more powerful than human evil, more powerful even than Rome and Caesar.
Easter is hope for us. The cross tells us that God is with us, that in Jesus God chooses to put himself at the heart of human suffering. It tells us that even when we cannot sense God’s presence, He is with us and will never let us go.
The empty tomb says that God is greater than suffering and death and evil. That in Jesus God’s life has triumphed. Christian hope is ‘Easter-shaped.’ And at Easter we celebrate the victory of Christ, the victory of life and light over the forces of chaos and death. At Easter we are invited to live our lives in the light of the Easter hope.
May God bless you this Easter!
Tim
St. Mary’s Ecclesfield Vacancy Church Wardens
We are pleased to announce that we are recruiting church wardens.
If you would like to take a keener role within our church, contributing to the vital spiritual, pastoral and mission work of St. Mary’s, please speak with Tim.
We are looking to recruit 4 volunteer church wardens, who besides having important legal duties, will help with the smooth running of the church.
Key activities which will be shared amongst the wardens, include.
To be considered for the role you must be over 21 years of age, baptised and on the parish electoral role, not disqualified by the Charities Commission and be willing to undergo DBS checks.
The election and start date are at the Annual General Meeting on Sunday 27th April.
For more information please speak to Tim
St Mary's Church, Priory Road, Ecclesfield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S35 9XZ, United Kingdom
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The Parochial Church Council of The Ecclesiastical Parish St Marys Ecclesfield - Charity Commission Reg. No. 1144309
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