Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We are fast approaching one of the most important times in the Christian calendar. More people attend church on Easter Sunday than at any other time of the year, including Christmas. But how can we as Christians ensure we have a deeply meaningful, spiritual experience as we commemorate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ? We can sometimes approach Easter with a jaded heart and perhaps with less enthusiasm than we should.
Just showing up to church on Easter morning doesn’t mean our hearts and minds are ready to receive what Jesus is offering. Sometimes our minds are set more on the physical and not the spiritual. In our rush towards Easter and in the business of all that needs to be done, we can forget about the need to slow down, to stop if need be and open our minds and hearts to God. The promptings of the Holy Spirit can so easily be quashed by the clamouring’s of our busy lives.
In the lead up to Easter, it is important to prepare and plan so that our focus is on what God has done for us in Christ. Make it a priority and set aside time to engage in spiritual practices such as meditation, prayer and studying the scriptures, especially those around the Easter story. This year, at this time, the churches in the UK and Ireland have been encouraged to read the book of John. It is so reassuring and meaningful to read the bible knowing we are reading the exact same passages together with our brothers and sisters all over the country who desire what we do, to draw closer to God.
Seek out solitude and silence.
In doing these things we are not suggesting that our salvation is by works as opposed to by faith in Jesus Christ. We are simply making room for God and reminding ourselves of his overflowing love for us and all of humanity. We want the reality of God’s presence to become our reality. Dallas Willard says, “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.”1 When we seek him, God will bless us by drawing us closer to him. So close, that we too will be able to say with heartfelt conviction, just like Mary Magdelene did after she saw the resurrected Jesus, “I have seen the Lord.”
We want to see the Lord too. And what we mean by this is that we want to know him more intimately than we ever have before and in that knowing be changed, to become more and more like him. Not for the purpose of trying to make ourselves more acceptable to him but out of our desire to follow him more closely, worship him more earnestly and to love him all the more.
Jesus’ birth is shadowed by many deaths, but Jesus’s death and resurrection brings the promise of life for all. What began with fear ends with overwhelming joy. The stone is rolled away from the tomb not to let Jesus out but to let the witnesses in. The angel tells the women when they saw the empty tomb to fear not. Jesus meets them and reiterates this sentiment, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
We too can be fearful when we take our eyes off Jesus and look at our broken world. In it there is much to fear. But when see Jesus and him only we need no longer fear. He is alive and present with us even though we cannot see him physically in the same way that the women saw him all those years ago. Jesus told his disciple Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
We are those who are blessed because we have come to believe.
Jesus’ resurrection changes how we see everything, and it impacts not only the future but the present reality. We were once dead in our sins but now we are made alive. We see ourselves and all of humanity in the light of the resurrection. People need to hear “I have seen the Lord,” from us when they only see violence, pain, hatred and despair. They need to hear us tell them not to be afraid because what they see in the world is not the true reality. We can reassure them that the things of which they are most fearful no longer have power over them. Jesus has risen.
Immerse yourself in the Easter story. Let the love of God flow in and through you to others and share the good news, “Do not fear. You too can see the Lord!”
Warm regards from Pete and me,
Jackie Mill
Minister and Regional Co-Pastor for Scotland, Ireland and the North of England.
1 The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship