From the Vicar
Dear Friends
Holy Week that begins on Palm Sunday leads on a journey towards Easter that contains so many powerful and emotional experiences as we sit and eat with Jesus at the Last Supper; watch everything that is familiar within a church building being stripped away on Maundy Thursday evening; encounter the betrayal and abandonment, suffering and death of Jesus on Good Friday; and the heart breaking moment when Mary holds her bloodied son in her arms before his hurried burial. We need to experience this, however hard it is to do so, in order to really understand the Easter transformation from darkness to light, death to life, despair to hope, sadness to joy, and fear to courage.
As I write this the world feels as if there are a lot of dangers and uncertainties facing us as we wait on Russia to decide if they will agree a ceasefire as a prelude to talks to a pathway to a long term peace; the fragility of the ceasefire in Gaza with this putting the hopes for a secure home for Palestinians and the security of peace for Israel further away, and the sudden insecurity of the border and relationship between the USA and Canada.
You may wonder how the powerful message of Easter can, and will, give hope and life to those who live with conflict, uncertainty, pain, loss, despair and fear in the world at the moment.
However difficult and worrying the world, or our life may be, Easter speaks to us of hope, because of God through the resurrection of Jesus breaking the finality of death and showing ultimately that there will be an end to suffering. God walks alongside us and in Jesus Christ, shows how he is our loving, protecting, and guiding shepherd. Jesus Christ is the ultimate peacemaker and reconciler, and our prayer is that he will strengthen us and guide us as to how we can be within our lives and relationships a witness to the light, love, peace, healing and reconciliation that Jesus has revealed to us, and we are called to share in a broken, divided and wounded world, in need of healing and peace with justice, compassion and love.
Easter is not a magic wand that makes everything bad go away, but it is sets loose within the world the abundant love and healing power of God where there is brokenness and division, injustice and exploitation. It may feel that the oppressors, agitators, powerful and wealthy are in control, but nothing will stop the power of God to overcome, renew and transform, and Easter calls us not to lose hope, and to model peace, love and justice where we can within our lives.
With love and prayers. Canon Tony
