Dear Friends
“Easter is serious. Easter is a demand as well as a promise. Easter demands not sympathy for the crucified Lord but loyalty to the risen one; it demands an end to all our complicity in crucifixion.” [William Sloane Coffin].
Have you ever thought of Easter as serious and demanding? I must confess that these words took me by surprise but the more time I have reflected on them the more I agree.
Easter is serious because to trust in its truth is to affirm that the way of Jesus really is the way of Life. It is to affirm Jesus’ teaching and lived example which pretty much goes against almost all the accepted wisdom of the world like:
Welcome-in strangers! Hang-out with outcasts! Tell the truth regardless! Better to help someone lying in a ditch on a dangerous road than make it in time for church! Don’t hit back! You don’t own what you have! Give and give again without counting the cost! Worry not about tomorrow—not even today! Fall in love with the people who hate you! Fear no-one! Forgive people who are wrong—even if they are really, really wrong! Forgive again! Serve all people—especially the “least”! Make friends with the poor! Pray!
To celebrate Easter is to be loyal to the One who was raised! This is serious stuff!
Joyfully disturbed, Alan
Sunday, 4th April 2010
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