Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
I am writing this letter to you on a beautiful morning in February. Spring has come very early this year (and so is Easter). Although it is only mid-February the bulbs are really sprouting in my garden, there is already a wonderful show of Snowdrops and early blossom and the bees are already hard at work.
I am reminded of a story about a little boy and his father, who were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon. Suddenly out of nowhere a bumblebee flew in through the open car window.
Since the little boy was deathly allergic to bee stings, he became petrified. The father quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it. But as soon as he let it go, the young son became frantic once again as it buzzed by him. His father saw his panic-stricken face. Once again the father reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his hand. There still stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee. "Do you see this?" he said. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you."
This is the wonderful message of Easter. We do not need to be afraid of death anymore. Christ faced death for us on the cross, and by His victory, we are saved from sin. Christ has taken the sting! St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians asks: "Where, oh death, is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:22)
When Christ's died on the cross he took the 'stinger'for us by making a sacrifice for all our sins, past, present, and future. Every sin that you will ever commit has already been paid for. All of our sins were in the future when Christ died two thousand years ago. There is no sin that you will ever commit that has not already been included in Christ's death.
Someone described sin as being the four 'selfs': Self-sufficiency instead of faith; self-will instead of submission; self-seeking instead of benevolence; and selfrighteousness instead of humility. You can sum all four of them up as being 'selfcentred', which means:- being disobedient to God.
Jesus summed up God's commandments in this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'(Matthew 22:37-39)
God's commandments are the very opposite of self-centredness. They are about us responding to his love for us by loving him and our fellow men and women. Our trouble is that we all fall short of those commandments because we are only human, and the four 'selfs'so easily creep into our lives. That is why we all need the message of Easter. Through Christ's death on the cross, and his resurrection, God promises us that we can be with him in paradise when we die, even though we are not really good enough to be there. This promise encourages us to live out our lives in renewed obedience, faith, hope and love. Luci Shaw sums it up beautifully in these lovely poetic words:-
But because he was once emptied I am each day refilled;
My spirit-arteries pulse with the vital red of love;
Poured out, it is his life that now pumps through my own heart's core.
He bled, and died, and I have been transfused.
He has risen! Fear is gone. New life is ours.
I wish you all a very happy Easter.