Reflections on Easter 2012

One of the purposes of this blog is to help me reflect ,so before rushing onto the next thing,I am going to blog my reflections of the Easter weekend.

Good Friday in Central was special. The building will find lots of uses over the years .It also works well for worship. We wont be holding our main  main Sunday morning services there, but there will be other occasions during the year when we will meet there to pray ,to praise, to learn and to reflect.
I have blogged elsewhere on Good Friday here

Easter Sunday morning was very well attended and it was great to sing the Easter songs and hymns and to hear and feel the joy of God's people as we praised Him together.

I was personally not happy with the sermon which did not flow as I wanted it to. I was trying to make the point that the first Easter did not make life safer but more dangerous for the first disciples and more challenging for us  as we have to live out and share that message,but it felt  as though the sermon died  ......but speaking to people afterwards God had obviously brought the dead to life as is fitting on Easter Sunday!  God had used it to bless people and I was amazed

Easter Sunday evening was a highlight. A much smaller gathering led by Beryl who is hugely gifted and who told the story of Easter through the eyes of one of the women present. Beryl used a book that I had read many years ago  John Wenhams" Easter enigma" to help her harmonise the various accounts of the first Easter .you can read a review of Wenham's book here

There is certainly power in telling the story and I have permission to post Beryl's text which I will do later today. The evening certainly blessed me and got me thinking whether we should use story much more in our services these days

I wasn't given much chocolate this year, but I did receive  a beautiful cross made by Sandra an artist in the church which will find a place in my studyOver the years I have been given many gifts from old family bibles that people don't want to throw away, but have no room to store, to liquorice allsorts which  a lady in a previous church used to give me  as a peace offering after falling out with me (I never had the heart to tell her they weren't my favourites!) but some of the art work I have been given I will always treasure as it is not only beautiful but I see the creativity, the effort  the energy,the generosity  of the artist

I went to bed reflecting on The Easter message and thankful that He is Risen indeed!