Thought for the Week

by Fr Christopher Phillips, Assistant Curate, St Margaret's, Ilkley

EASTER is often a time for holidays, or simply for spending a little more time with our family and friends. No matter how busy our lives are, it is important to break from the usual routines every once in a while, to take stock of things and rest. Our minds and bodies all too easily get stuck on repeat. The daily grind at work; the weekly round of activities to transport the children to and from; the trips to the supermarket. The things we do day by day can and should be enjoyable, but they can also wear us out. We can lose sight of the reasons we do them in the first place – and so every now and then we need a little perspective. These times are precious because they offer us opportunities to begin again, letting go of things that are unhelpful or damaging to us, and embracing the unexpected or the new.

The events of Easter demonstrate how the unexpected can lead to complete renewal. On Good Friday, everyone thought that Jesus’ mission was over. His public crucifixion seemed to have brought an end to any prospect of his promise of a new way of living in relationship with God and in the world. But then, three days later and seemingly out of nowhere, when all hope was lost, that new life burst from the tomb. In the light of the resurrection, everything looks different. Jesus’ followers looked back on everything they had seen and heard beforehand, and came to understand things very differently. The stories they’d heard in the Scriptures, the rules they had tried to follow so carefully, all took on a new meaning.

We hear a lot about the heroic exploits of some of Jesus’ followers, and what they did after his resurrection – the book of Acts tells us quite a lot about them, for example. But plenty more of those very first Christians continued to live relatively ordinary lives, as quietly as they could. The threat of persecution was never far away. But the earth-shattering event of the resurrection meant that their routines took on new meaning – they were refreshed and given new hope by their knowledge of our Saviour’s victory.

However you spend this Eastertide, I hope that you are able to take an opportunity to do a bit of “spring cleaning” of your usual routines. Are they life-giving, for you and for those who are important to you? What changes might you make to improve things? What are you thankful for, and is there anything you need to seek forgiveness for? And where does God fit into all this?

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Happy Easter.