The need for hope

This week has involved lots of conversations about hope. Hope in the face of illness. Hope in the possibility of change. Hope in a brighter future.
I have always maintained that part of ministry involves having enough hope for others who feel they have none.
I was also reading about the Beltane Festival, an ancient celebration occurring at the beginning of May, marking a season of hope for the harvest that is to come, among other things.
And, of course, it was said of the Royal Wedding, that such pomp and pageantry, were welcome signs of hope in the midst of so much darkness in the world. A brief respite, if you like.
In this season after Easter, faith gives us cause to hope and allows us to be a people who can hold out hope, enough for others, in all the struggles that are a part of daily life.

Easter is forever

As we returned from a day away yesterday, I caught myself thinking - "Well, that's Easter over!" And a resounding Noooooo went through my head. Of course it's not over. EASTER LASTS FOREVER!
It's tempting to feel, after the journey through Lent and the emotion of Holy Week that the joy and exuberance of Easter Sunday brings things to a fitting conclusion. But, of course, the wonderful heart of the Christian faith is that the message of Easter - Life and love overcoming death - is something we can celebrate every day bringing light even into the darkest of times. ALLELUIA!

He is risen - Alleluia!

Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here. He is risen!
Woohoo!
(Matthew 28 paraphrased)

For whom do we wait? (not the Easter bunny!)

In the silence that now ensues
after all the worship
and all the singing
after all the shouts of Crucify him!
and the soundscape of whips and nails
and creaking and groaning
and weeping and wailing
for whom do we wait?


The Risen Christ in all his glory?
For sure.
But how will he come?
In shining white robes,
striding with power and majesty
entering on a fanfare of praise?
or silently stealing in
walking alongside us
and, when pressed,
showing us the marks of his suffering and death?


Where we are
the Risen Christ is
How we need him to be
the Risen Christ is
In the watching and the waiting
in the silence
he comes.
King of Kings
Lord of Lords
We wait on the miracle that is Resurrection.

The things he carried - The amazing love of God

The Things He Carried – The amazing love of God

How could he bear all those things.

The weight of the cross.

The piercing mockery of the crown of thorns.

The burden of the sin of the world.

The dashing of the hopes of his followers.

The crushing rejection.

Each a weight more deadly than the last.

How could he carry all that

and still cry – Father forgive.

How could he carry all that

and still say to the thief– This day you will be with me in Paradise

How could he carry all that

and, on seeing his mother watching with breaking heart,

say – Woman, your son.

How could he carry all that

and in the depths of rejection

cry - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

How could he carry all that

and say I thirst

How could he carry all that

and cry: It is finished

How could he carry all that

and, at the last say

Father into your hands I commend my Spirit.

Bearing the weight

of the cross,

the crown of thorns,

the sin of the world

the unfulfilled hopes

the rejection

still Christ knew

the amazing love of God

there for him

and for us

there in the beginning

and in the end

all that he carried

was carried in the amazing love of God

The things he carried - The sin of the world

The Things He Carried – The sin of the world

We see the ugly lump of wood

that he bears through the streets.

We see the crude crown of thorns

piercing his head.

Less visible is the weight of our sin

that bears down upon him

relentlessly.

So much weight there

the big and the small

the grand and the petty

the local and the global

the commission and the omission.

All those wrongs that are ours

sometimes when we don’t even know it.

He carries them

and bears them away with him

on the cross.

Sometimes, we don’t even want to give them up

our sins.

but he carries them anyway.

He lifts them up

with him on that cross

and in carrying our sins

offers us a chance

to begin again

free of our burden.

He carried

the sin of the world.

The things he carried - Rejection

The Things He Carried – Rejection

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The words Jesus cried as he gave himself up to death.

As his body stretched out of kilter

and his lungs were crushed

as he struggled with each agonising breath.

As he pronounced forgiveness for the thief

and for us.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The man who went about doing good.

Teaching, healing, restoring worth.

Turning on its head

all the practice of the law.

The man who had to carve out space

to be by himself

because folk wanted

constantly to be around him.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

As he watched his disciples

skulk away

and hide in the mob

of angry people

baying for his blood.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

As he looked in sorrow

at his mother in her sorrow

enduring the agony of losing her child.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The man who gave himself for others

Who loved and laughed and held nothing back

In death alone, deserted,

knowing the desolation of rejection.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?