The Wonder of the Cross – Easter Day – Hallelujah What A Saviour
When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth…
When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth…
It seems that after all of the long journey from Bethlehem to Egypt, Nazareth to Galilee, Jerusalem to Golgotha, we finally end up where we began. ‘Do not be afraid!’ But this time the angels and our risen Lord provide an antidote for our fear. For all of our fears.
With [the women] we are called to a persistent and practical faith-filled life which looks each night to be with our Beloved at dawn-break. And, as we fill our emptiness with devotion we too will hear Him call our name from the Garden Tomb
Easter has always been BOGOF – Buy One Get One Free.
…not deserving this the greatest of all gifts, have the love of the One Who Loves us Best lavished upon us not once but twice! We are saved by the death of our Beloved and we are saved even more by His Resurrection.
The lesson the disciples missed is that eternal life is not only about following Jesus (even the Rich Young Ruler wants to do that) but also about leaving things behind.
The Gospel is not about receiving – what’s in it for me?
But about leaving the past in dust and ashes – which is a reward in itself.
God is a God of love and welcome and we need to set aside the lies about condemnation which our early faith may have taught us
Surely there can be no ‘yeah but, no but, yeah’ if we dare to proclaim that we are Open to God, Open to All? After all isn’t the only response God makes to us ‘Yes and Amen’ ? (2 Cor.1v19-21). Can we offer any less? Can we, dare we, bear all this calumny and abuse and remain un-defended? Not biting back, refusing to turn away those who abuse us and others, and instead learn only to love and then love again?
Our Beloved in leaving us does not leave us desolate but leaves reminders of his presence. Perhaps not in an enchanted place but in ordinary things
surrounded by the dead and in fear of being killed themselves that they heard the news of the hope that was born in a cave in Bethlehem and escaped from a tomb in Jerusalem.
To be able to provide a home for another is a precious gift, to know that our Beloved provides a home for us makes all our challenges, whether they involve squatting bishops or not, melt away.