Easter 2006

March 20, 2006

Dear Friends,

Easter is a time of conflicting emotions. Indeed, I find myself on a roller coaster ride from joy to sorrow to joy to sadness. It all begins for me on Palm Sunday. Cheering crowds welcome Jesus to Jerusalem. That must have felt very special. All that Jesus had worked towards was being appreciated by the ordinary folk in the streets of the Holy City. Then the Passover Meal on Maundy Thursday. Betrayal by a so called friend, the inevitability of Jesus’ arrest. Good Friday: the day of ultimate darkness and evil. By this point the swing from Triumphant entry a few days earlier to ”free Barrabas” and ”Crucify”, could not be more dramatic. Then Easter Day and the transformation of the cross symbolising the miracle of resurrection turns despair to joy, once again. For me, this intensifies year on year as my understanding and my faith deepens.

This year I particularly feel the sadness that because of human folly, Jesus laid down his life. He hung and suffered a dreadful death for us... for you and me. Sometimes I think we forget that and I hope our services this year will remind us of our part in the divine drama, not forgetting that as a result of Christ’s passion we have been promised forgiveness and a fresh start, a new beginning and the promise that now nothing in life or even in death can separate us from the love of God. ALLELUIA!

Rev Fred Ireland