Easter changes everything!

We sang some great hymns and songs this morning as we celebrated Easter Sunday,  but one we didn't sing (maybe because its  more often associated with All Saints Day) is Bishop How's " For all the saints who from their labours rest"  which is a great biblical hymn usually sung to Vaughan Williams lively tune. Nevertheless it is  that hymn has been on my mind since I got up this morning .
The later verses express the New Testament teaching on death and life beyond death wonderfully well

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon, to faithful warriors cometh rest.
Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest.
Alleluia! Alleluia!


 But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of Glory passes on His way.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

. From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

The Christian church is amazing in it's diversity ,people from every tribe and tongue and nation but also from every generation.

So today I thought  of so many of the people whose funerals I have taken down the years, from the retired police inspector and  the elderly pioneer missionary,  to the young student ,to the children and still born babies and many many others,and how Christ's Death and Resurrection changes everything for them,  and means "we sorrow not as others sorrow who have no hope"
Easter is an incredibly hopeful time
As I parked my car on arriving home from church I noticed this  young apple tree in full blossom in the garden.

It is a tree generously given to me by the parents of a fine young Christian man killed in a road traffic accident not so long ago, and whose funeral I took part in .From the depth of a harsh winter new,beautiful and hopeful life has sprung.!
From death comes life .
In the words of Stuart Townend's great hymn which we did sing this morning "Death is dead love has won Christ has conquered!

Hallelujah!

John Updike poem for Easter Day

John Updike 1932-2009

Seven Stanzas at Easter

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that–pierced–died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

Good Friday?

A very thoughtful service for Good Friday this morning led by Steve.
We sang some powerful songs and hymns,read the familiar readings  and thought again about the cross and God's awesome love before sharing communion together.
We are certainly not going to appreciate the Easter message fully without thinking a great deal about Good Friday and the crucifixion

I was moved by another of Sally's poems on Good Friday.
Good Friday?

Saltmine Theatre Company

Tonight The Saltmine Theatre Company came and performed "Who Moved the Egg?" in our church building.

 Saltmine Trust

This was a  production,suitable for all ages,that told the story of Easter all the way from the Last Supper to the Ascension. The set was excellent and the three person company told the story in a way that was sometimes humorous, and sometimes very moving, but always in a way that engaged and involved  the audience and that was faithful to the Bible.
It certainly was a very helpful way to reflect on the events of the death and resurrection of Jesus.and prepare  myself for Easter.and from chatting to people afterwards that seemed to be a pretty universal reaction

In a low key way it was also a good evangelistic event,that we can certainly build on in the future.

Perseverance

http://sallysjourney.typepad.com/sallys_journey/2011/04/he-knew-pondering-palm-sunday.html

Enjoyed worship yesterday morning. We celebrated Palm Sunday with a baptismal service.I spoke though on Luke's account of the crucifixion
Read this poem out (with permission) from Sally's blog  which speaks to me of the perseverance of Jesus  poem
I always think perseverance is a very underrated Christian quality, but it was something Jesus demonstrated throughout his life and especially in the first Holy Week as he goes through Gethsemane to Calvary.
 Perseverance is  something all of us who call ourselves his followers need to demonstrate as well.
There are times when it is not easy to follow but that is exactly what we are called to do.

Paris in the Spring

Just back from a very enjoyable few days in Paris.

We were told that the city was on high alert after a law was passed banning the wearing of the burka in public and the police, and indeed the army, were very visible in all parts of the city, though we saw only one very small demonstration against the new law.

We visited most of the popular tourist haunts and the city looked great, far better than I remembered it from my last visit in 1991.
There was very little sign of an economic downturn,though there were more beggars on the streets than I have seen in other cities recently.
It is hard to measure the spiritual temperature of a place in a few days but  Paris  looks even more materialistic than other places and from all I read the church in France appears  weak, and seems to have little influence.Although still nominally Roman Catholic less than 10% of  those who describe themselves as Catholic attend church.

We visited some stunning church buildings including the Notre Dame and the Basilique du Sacré Cœur with its amazing ceiling

These churches were crowded with tourists but looking around I was also struck by the number of people praying and lighting candles and also the number of people writing down prayer requests in books that had been provided for the purpose.

Even if we assume that only a small percentage of these people attend worship regularly ,they do at least provide evidence that human beings have real spiritual needs and are in some way reaching out and looking for Gods help in their lives
I know UK Christians who have worked in France for many years and found the going very tough, but I was left wondering what more the church here could do to help the church in France?

Hope and death- Sally's poem

There is a lot I would like to blog about if I had time, but I was really struck by this poem on Sally's blog
Hope and death
It took me back  16 or 17 years to a time when I was a part time assistant chaplain at a hospice.
I found it a difficult but enormously fulfilling role.The people I tried, imperfectly, to minister to knew they were dying.
Many wanted no spiritual comfort from me,others wanted a miracle of healing,still others accepted their situation and simply wanted someone to walk with them on the journey.It was my immense privilege simply to be there
I can still remember many of them Bill,Jean and Joyce among others. They gave me so much more than I gave them and a number renewed a long abandoned faith, and some found faith for the first time.

 I especially love the line in Sally's poem  "She was the spiritual giant in the room" because it sums up what I so often felt.
Opening a door into a room where a patient lies dying is a tough thing to do . Perhaps I was not very good at it.Sometimes people were angry ,sometimes inconsolable,sometimes simply frightened but occasionally they were full of faith and joy knowing they were beginning a new and great adventure into Gods closer presence
They were the spiritual giants in the room!

The hospice also taught me the value of listening  and the value of being vulnerable. I may not be good at these things but I would be a lot worse without this experience

After a few years with the demands of a growing church and family I gave it up but I am always glad I did it   To be honest I learned more about pastoral work there than in 7 years of theological education!