Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
Twas Easter Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
April is one of my most favourite months, full of new life and new hope. A hope that springs from Easter. The Christian faith is a faith of hope, a hope that is summed up in the glory of the resurrection.
In about the year 1930, the Communist leader Bukharin journeyed from Moscow to Kiev. His mission was to address a huge assembly. His subject was atheism. For a solid hour he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity, hurling argument and ridicule. At last he was finished and viewed what seemed to be the smouldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. A solitary man arose and asked permission to speak. He mounted the platform and moved close to the Communist. The audience was breathlessly silent as the man surveyed them first to the right, then to the left. At last he shouted the ancient Orthodox greeting, "CHRIST IS RISEN!" The vast assembly arose as one man and the response came crashing like the sound of an avalanche, "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
Many people find it hard to come to terms with the Resurrection of our Lord. It seems to them one miracle too far. Yet, the promise of the resurrection was especially comforting to a woman named Frieda Barkman after her 15-year-old foster son, Vernon, was killed in an accident. Afraid that he would soon be forgotten by most of his friends, she was writing feverishly, hoping she could in some way help to keep alive the memory of her son. Then suddenly she realized that she did not need to do this. Vernon was still alive. He was not out of existence. He and all his Christian loved ones and friends would meet again. How did she know? Here is her answer: "Because of Easter. Because at our last family devotions he had prayed, 'Thank you, God, that I am Your son.'"
As William and Gloria Gaither so beautifully put it:
Because he lives I can face tomorrow,
Because he lives all fear is gone.
Because I know he holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because he lives.
The miracle of that first Easter is a wonderful sign of hope to us all. It is a sign that Christ has triumphed over the grave, and has fulfilled all that he came in to the world to achieve.
So, as we greet the Easter dawn once again, let us fill our hearts with joy and thanksgiving at the wonderful truth of the resurrection and all that it stands for. Let us rejoice in faith and hope, full of the knowledge that, as that ancient Easter greeting proclaims: "CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
May God bless you all,