Dear Friends,

 

I’m writing to you in the middle of Lent, for publication at the beginning of March, yet aware that this will be the Easter edition of our magazine. So I am faced with a dilemma: whether to focus on the continuing Lent theme, for we still, as I write, have 28 of the 40 ‘wilderness days’ to get through -  and the solemnity of Holy Week and Good Friday - or do I go straight to the joy of Easter and the new life we shall be celebrating on 23^rd March?

 

 I am all too well aware that, for a number of members of our parish family, this is not an easy time: there is serious illness, hospital treatment, anxiety about loved ones, and our hearts go out to those we are praying for at this time. Simply to wish you all a Happy Easter, and encourage you to celebrate the new life all around you would be a superficial message, avoiding the grim reality that lies between now and Easter – the terrible conflict between good and evil, which reached its climax in the brutal killing of Jesus. That is why, every year, although I am really pleased to welcome all those who come to church just on Easter Day (as well as at Christmas) I want to say: ‘Where were you on Good Friday? Or on Palm Sunday, when the crowds, who thought the idea of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was lovely, worth cheering about, but who then shouted loudly for him to be crucified 5 days later?’

 

Easter Sunday is my favourite day of the whole year, and I love every aspect of Easter celebrations; but the real cause for celebration is that all the painful and sad parts of our lives are part of the Easter story: not ignored, or forgotten, but acknowledged and understood by the God who doesn’t stand back from those who suffer, but is there alongside them, knowing all about pain and heartbreak, because in his Son he has experienced it all. And on Easter Sunday, the light shines through – Jesus still bears the scars, but he has won through, and the worst that can happen becomes the way, somehow, for God to show the power of love to overcome the power of darkness and death.

 

It is all a mystery, and most of the bland, pretty cards you see in the shops don’t begin to convey what Easter is really about; but if you want to know the real wonder of Easter, ask someone who has gone through a Good Friday experience knowing that God was with them in it – and then you’ll be a little nearer the truth of it all. There are a number of those people in our parish family – and they are worth listening to.

 

On a lighter note, when my children were small, and fond of having Beatrix Potter stories read to them, I used to have a friend – another mum – who, when she read the story of Peter rabbit, always missed out the bit about Peter’s father having been put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor, because it was too upsetting. (Perhaps she didn’t go to church on Good Friday for the same reason!) Perhaps death is the last taboo, the unmentionable subject, over which we have no control, though we all have to face it sooner or later. All the more reason, then, for a full-blooded celebration of Easter, in honour of the only person who actually has conquered death – by courageously confronting it.

 

So what does Easter say to those who are going through difficult times? And indeed, to all of us? Above all, it is a message of hope: not just hope for the future – that at the end of our lives, we do not need to fear death, because this last enemy has been defeated. The hope is for now: that living this life in the light of the resurrection is to live in a new way, not being downcast by cynicism and despair, but making that resurrection life flourish in the situations we find ourselves in, using whatever imagination and energy and creative power we have within us. It may begin in small ways – but that is usually how new life begins. The resurrection story began in the darkness of the tomb; over 2000 years later its power is still at work, transforming the most apparently hopeless situations into places where Easter goes on happening.

 

Happy Easter – come and celebrate with us,

 

With love,

Rosey

 

Preparing to celebrate Easter with a feast of chocolate? why not come to the next meeting of Film Club, Friday 14^th March at Nailsea Methodist church, when the film ‘Chocolat’ will be shown. It’s very good! Admission free (donations welcome) and appropriate chocolaty refreshments will be on sale.

 

 

THE CROSS TREE CENTRE

 

Plans for the Cross Tree centre are well under way – you will shortly be receiving an invitation to a launch event on 6^th May. Meanwhile, we are keen to collect any memories people may have of the old ‘school room’ or ‘library’ that people may have, or old photographs of the building / churchyard / Cross Tree. Eventually we hope to have an exhibition of ‘old Wraxall’ in the new centre, helping us all to be aware of the history of our local community. Any contributions / stories you may have will be welcome. Please contact the parish office (857086 05 852442) if you can help.