As with many things partly dismantled by the Covid season, the approach to Easter this year seems a little hurried, as if the long weekend sneaking up on us. I've confessed to some of you before, when I entered ordained ministry it was as if I had to get up to speed on the whole thing, as in my youth,
Easter was the time for going tramping in the wilderness, not sitting around in church. The prospect of a 4-5 day weekend was too good to resist.
Yet now I see it as a theological high-point of church life, life in the body, where would we be without Easter?
You know I'm a bit of an op-shopper, and the other day for 50c I found The True Solitude: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Merton in the book section. This has been a blessing to me in the following days. On page 15 I read;
'Confusion and fog pile up in your life, and then by the power of the Cross things once again are clear, and you know more about your wretchedness and you are grateful for another miracle.'
Sitting in Scotsman's Gully, Karangahake a couple of Saturdays ago, the combination of light and shade provided a particular clarity of vision that I opted to enjoy for a while.
The Cross of Jesus provides us with a similar clarity of vision in the spiritual sense. It cuts through to the core of what it is to be human.
I have sensed an outpouring of words in this Covid season. Frankly, I have dismissed many of them to enable my peace of mind. The tide of vitriol and confusion regarding the Covid response continues to pour out on social media. Who do people think will listen to them? Everyone is an expert apparently, but actually most are not.
This Easter, abandon the doom scrolling, the dissension, the chatter, the worry and the distraction. Sit before God in your 'wretchedness' and give thanks to God that no matter what, the riches of God's grace and love are freely available to you, by the miracle of the cross.
Apostle Paul wrote; 'For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.' (Romans 12:3)
This is my stance this Easter time. The cross, an instrument of Roman torture and execution, becomes a thing of beauty and clarity, which by God's grace, assembles our true humanity and connects to Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.