The Minister Writes...
Dear Friends
You have probably noticed that the Easter holidays have changed - especially if you're a teacher or have children at school. South Lanarkshire, along with a number of other councils, I believe, has decided that the Spring holiday will now always be during the first fortnight of April. Easter itself, being a moveable feast, may or may not occur during those weeks - it doesn't seem to matter. So this year, for example, the schools will be closed on 25 March (Good Friday) and 28 March (Easter Monday), then re-open for a few days only to close again for a fortnight's break. Confusing? Another evidence of increasing secularisation, and of the religious significance of holidays being downplayed? Personally, I rather like the idea of being able to celebrate Easter as a Christian festival before so many of the congregation go away for a (well-earned) break from work and education.
Anyway, it should be difficult to commercialise and secularise Easter, what with all the injustice, all the pain, all the suffering that dominate the story as Jesus was put on trial, spat on, scourged and eventually crucified. Lots of attempts are made of course, and we have chocolate eggs, Easter chicks, and Easter bunnies galore. Maybe the separation of Easter from the Spring holiday will help us rediscover the Christian message. I live in hope.
Even if that doesn't happen, I still live in hope! Because that's what Easter offers us. It's a time of hope, and not just of hope that spring will turn to summer. Death leads to life, defeat leads to victory, hell leads to heaven. Jesus died, Jesus rose again. Jesus died for our sins, and he rose again to put us right with God. Jesus has won the victory for us over sin, death and evil.
One springtime, as I walked home, I spotted someone down on her knees, cutting her front lawn with a pair of shears. (This was not in Carluke, by the way.) It seemed then a strange thing to do, and it still does. Why didn't she use a lawnmower? So much more power would have been available; she could have got the job done in less than half the time. I thought about offering her my petrol-driven Flymo but didn't, and it's maybe just as well. I hate to think what she'd have said to my implied insult. But it strikes me that many of us might be doing much the same thing as that woman. Are we trying to live our lives using the shears of our own efforts, when we could be making use of the power that's available to us from the risen Lord Jesus? Jesus is alive! If we are Christians at all, he has sent his Spirit into our hearts. Easter is about this new life that is available for us in him. School holiday or no school holiday, that's got to be worth celebrating!
Yours in faith, hope and love.
