Thought for the Week - 28/3/2021

Dear Friends,

One of my childhood memories is of an Easter poster that used to appear every year in the locality, in porches and windows that announced, ‘This is Holy Week’. I think it was distributed by the local parish church and people were encouraged to display it in a prominent place. It was striking in its simplicity, something akin to a clip art image, that showed Jesus dying on the cross with the letters INRI placed above his head which references the inscription that Pontius Pilate had put on the cross which read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’ (John 19:19). The beginning of Holy Week with the cries of ‘Hosanna!’ and palm waving will very soon be replaced with ‘Crucify Him!’ and the wooden cross as we walk with Jesus in his footsteps the culmination to the Lenten season. During this coming week you’re invited to read the story for yourself from John’s gospel with the Holy Week Readings which were sent out last week, but which are also attached here again. There will also be extra online services for Maundy Thursday as we remember the meal Jesus shared with his disciples, and Good Friday as we listen to the story of the death of Jesus. But it is also the day between the sadness of Good Friday and the celebration of Easter Day, Holy Saturday, which we can sometimes forget. It is a day which speaks of emptiness and silence – the silence of God – as the powers and principalities of this world, the forces of evil, think that they have triumphed, and God has been defeated. In some church traditions there are services of vigil, waiting and watching in the stillness. Of course we know the end of the story and the celebration that will come on Easter Sunday, and even the poster from my childhood acknowledged that Jesus’ death wasn’t the end because the poster had a turned-up section at the bottom which was revealed on Easter morning sharing with the world the amazing good news in the phrase, ‘He is risen!’ And so, in recalling the events of Holy Week my prayer is that we will all come to a new and fresh realisation of what God has done for each one of us in Jesus Christ. 

Grace and peace,

Neil

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