Easter Day

My own personal reflections Easter Sunday 12 April 2020

My scripture is John 20, the story of Thomas, a character I cannot lose. What does the Resurrection and this encounter have to say to individuals, families, communities, mission organizations and institutions? As I do not function as a parish priest at the moment, the question is obviously for me and my context.

We read the passage, and the Easter Story in general, as God’s mission, or act, to deal with sin. But what if we have acknowledged this redemption, and have already responded: is it just a reminder of God's actions?

I have been reading Rowan Williams book ‘Resurrection’ , and the passage I have been returning to is this: ‘every proper proclamation of the Easter gospel, pointing to a hidden and exclusive Christ with one we can never simply and unconditionally identify, represents the same challenge, the same rejection the same call to ‘adulthood’. The resurrection calls forward into a life that is genuinely new and effectively changed by grace which both displaces the ego from its central and domineering position and grounds the self more and more profoundly in the accepting love of the Father’.  P80 R Williams.

In our outward mission to our neighbours and world with God (who is already engaged in mission), our story of Easter is a story of love, redemption and sacrifice. It is an act of God that we are compelled to share with the world.  But what for us/me who know the story so well? We know the ending; we have experienced the fathers love; we are turning from our sins; what can it say to me?

This small but significant statement from Rowan ushers me back to the Easter story and invites me to look at myself. One observation I have heard many times (critically) is: ‘the church in Africa is wide but thin, wide in numbers but thin on maturity’. I think this can now be equally applied to the church in Europe also. But perhaps we are not as wide as in Africa. Rowan uses the modern language of ego that St Paul did not have but saw in his communities, he called for the Church ‘to be mature in the fullness of Christ’ Eph 4:13.

On Easter Sunday I shared with my brothers and sisters that in my struggle, and at my worst; and almost daily, they have the privilege of seeing me trying to move my ego from the center of my life. They see me and God struggling for space in my life, a bit like Jacob the wrestler. After all the world has taught me over the years I am the most important person in my life. Sometimes my ego is like a hungry bear other times it more like a whispering bird, but I’m never without it. In every organization and family we have a collection of people trying to cover up the shouting of the ego, but usually our deception is poor. We all chuckle internally at the scene played out in front of us, sometimes we are leading actors and at other times we take supporting roles. What we also watch together is our growing up. This maturing is not easy and sometimes not pretty, ask my wife and children. In my twenties I spent far too many Saturday mornings thinking ‘what the hell did I do that for’? Growing up is hard, maturity that serves outside the ego is difficult and that it is why so many don’t bother, they drop out too early.

Growing, as recorded in the Gospels, is Jesus meeting someone and helping them to see that life need not be like the one they lead. Follow me I will show you a different way. One invitation at a time, one day at a time, come follow, grow and change, change your neighborhood.

If this invitation is to individuals and families it must also apply to churches and organizations. I know this as someone who served the Anglican church for 35 years. When as a parish priest I was asked to be on the Bishops Council and Area Dean I knew that some of that fed my ego, the bear felt happy, the bird chirped smugly. The result was that I had to mature in front of my peers to the point where I was able to identify the bear and start to put it into the cage (not with the bird).  That is never an easy nor edifying journey, but to get to some sort of maturity in Christ it is required of each one of us. No chick enters to the world fully fledged it has to spend time falling over, entertaining us for a while.

I have no idea what will be required of the church after this situation we find ourselves in. But I do know what was required from the beginning. It is that the church needs to grow into maturity, the fullness St Paul asks for. The one thing I am sure of, is this is not an easy call and will not be fulfilled on the completion of a course.

At an evangelical tent meeting my granddad took me too in 1972 I was changed. I began to recognize the work of Christ on the cross. But it was only the beginning of what Rowan calls ‘genuinely new and effective change’, and boy it has been a struggle and at times embarrassing but that is the cost of any maturity.

I love the way John’s Easter story records Jesus seeking out Mary. It is Jesus who calls her name, values her. For Mary, the Fathers love begins the resurrection journey.I also love that John records Jesus behind closed doors. It is as if he says, ‘you think locked doors will hold my Fathers resurrection love from you?’ And yes, I love also that John records Jesus going to the one who doubts and questions, it is Thomas in John’s resurrection epiphany, who is given the chance to mature and does so by being the first to proclaim ‘My Lord and My God.’

So, in an action of Easter Examine Fueled Reflection: I would to thank those who have helped, and are still helping me grow up and shift the ego.