Letter from our Minister - Spring 2013
This is one of the best times of the year, I think.
Firstly, it’s my birthday (although I don’t like the way the years are piling up!).
Secondly, the signs of spring are there to be seen. I love watching for the daffodils to come up and turn the garden into a splash of bright colour after the browns and dark greens (and white!) of the winter. It prompts me to think about new possibilities and hope for the future.
Thirdly, this is the time of the year when we get real.
Lent is a time for you to acknowledge the difficult parts of life, especially those pains and struggles which litter your life. It is also the time for you to face up to the less likeable side of human nature – the pain you inflict on others, the hurtful things you do and say, the guilt you bear. Lent is the time to own up to the load you carry.
The reality is that you have the shadow side of your personality and nature and the difficulties of daily living; yet the reality is also that God loves you, God accepts you, and God invites you to let Him transform you. Lent takes us on a 40 day journey through the depths and heights of life, acted out most powerfully in that last week of Jesus’ life when he experienced adulation, rejection, human love, and betrayal. He was caught up in power politics, a vision at variance with God’s vision. This led to extreme pain and torture which he chose to endure rather than to duck out of it. Despite his doubts and his feelings of near total abandonment, his flickering trust in God’s love kept him going.
Lent is tough, but it’s real life stuff.
Real life is full of dilemmas and mixed motives. It has its share of pain and despair, and yet that is not the whole story. Real life has its intense joys and times of contentment. Excitement and a feeling of being at ease with yourself and the world are part of it too.
Easter Day comes with its message of goodness and love having the upper hand. The contrast can feel remarkable if you have lived through the depths of life or remained present to the harsh realities of life of some of your fellow citizens of this society and the world.
Getting real…
Something the church has to do too. People don’t come to church like they used to. Apathy and hostility are apparent; for many people church doesn’t even register with them. What we do in church – our culture – just is not on most people’s wavelength. Is it an inevitable downward path for the church?
Or is there hope? Are there new possibilities? I believe so, if we are prepared to move out of our culture and enter into that of others. We have to go to where other people are (both physically and in our imagination).
Look to develop relationships, friendships – not with the implicit purpose of getting people into church or even to ‘bring them to Christ’. You get to know people because they matter to you and they matter to God. In time, if you have built up sufficient trust between you, they may enquire about your faith, but it is in their time and God’s time (not yours). I’m sure you would like instant results; you like to think that what you do is going to bring results in the not too distant future. However, your calling is to be faithful to the God of hope.
Let’s remember that Easter is about resurrection not resuscitation (the new life will not be the same as the old life – similar but different). The future, just as the present time, is held by God. In that we can trust. In that there is hope.
Love Judith