Dear Friends
We have just finished our season of Lent reflection during the month of March, which began with Ash Wednesday on 18th February. This was a time for deep contemplation, fasting from food and festivities and praying in recognition of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. It was also a time for growth in our faith and well-being.
Passiontide and Holy Week, a time of celebration for the Christian church, began on 29th March. We commemorate Maundy Thursday on 2nd April, followed by Good Friday, Easter Saturday Vigil and finally concluding with Easter Sunday celebration on 5th April (see Parish website for timings). We share in Christ’s journey beyond the wilderness from His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, His Crucifixion to the Empty Tomb on Easter morning signifying His Resurrection.
If some people were anxious at the beginning of Lent as a result of life choices or unanswered questions, then at the end of Lent, we experienced a sense of conversion, peace, understanding and acceptance of our circumstances. They are all facets for preparing us for Easter.
Why is this important? It is because the resurrection of Christ celebrated this month gives us hope for His return at the end of time. We are also passionate about the words of Jesus Christ to guide us through the challenges of life and yet be happy.
I cannot better explain the words of the Resurrection than Isaac Watts (1674-1748), English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He said: “It is finished,” said our blessed Lord on the cross: ‘It is finished’, may every one of his followers say at the hour of death, and at the end of time: My sins and follies, my distresses and my sufferings, are finished for ever, and the mighty angel swears to it, that the time of those evils is no longer: They are vanished, and shall never return. O happy souls, who have been so wise to count the short and uncertain number of your days on earth, as to make an early provision for a removal to heaven. Blest are you above all the powers of present thought and language. Days, and months, and years, and all these short and painful periods of time, shall be swallowed up in a long and blissful eternity; the stream of time which has run between the banks of this mortal life, and bore you along amidst many dangerous rocks of temptation, fear and sorrow, shall launch you out into the ocean of pleasures which have no period: Those felicities must be everlasting, for the duration has no limit there.
The seasons of Lent, Passiontide and Easter provide the reflective window to calm our restlessness, to have completeness in ourselves, to be accepting of our circumstances, and believing that the lessons of Christ do have an influence in our lives. The eleventh chapter of Matthew’s Gospel cites: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Watchman Nee once said: “Our old history ends with the cross; our new history begins with the resurrection”. And this is true. We begin our history with a new narrative: forgiveness, hopeful, renewed, refreshed for the season ahead of us.
We echo the joyful words of Charles Wesley, who wrote: “Christ, the Lord, is resign today. Hallelujah! Sons of men and angels say: Raise your joys and triumphs high; Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply. Vain the stone, the watch, the seal; Christ hath burst the gates of hell; Death in vain forbids Him rise; Christ hath opened paradise”.
Thomas Merton also said in his response to faith: “Perhaps I am stronger than I think”. Could it be that in all of this time, coming out of Lent and Easter, we failed to discover our strength in the Lord. If we have forgotten, why don’t you join us and rediscover the journey to the cross of Christ and His Resurrection one more time.
Our list of Easter services can be found on the Parish website. I do hope you can journey with us. Our Parish Church community and I look forward to meeting you in due course.
In closing, I offer a prayer for Passiontide and Easter seasonal sustenance:
Lord Jesus Christ,
we confess we have failed you as did your first disciples.
We ask for your mercy and your help.
When we take our ease
rather than watch with you:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we bestow a kiss of peace
yet nurse enmity in our hearts:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we strike at those who hurt us
rather than stretch out our hands to bless:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy.
When we deny that we know you
for fear of the world and its scorn:
Lord, forgive us.
Christ have mercy
Stay blessed with love
Reverend Rickey Simpson-Gray
Parish of Wokingham St Sebastian’s