To wake up on Easter morning to brightness, warmth and birdsong. It couldn’t be better. But then comes the news of the bombings in Sri Lanka. Christian lives wiped out as they gathered to celebrate the Risen Christ. In face of this you realise that none of our canned responses will do, the things we let slide from our mouth without feeling in our hearts. This is the world where hatred, prejudice and violence all thrive and where Christians are called to be faithful witnesses to the Resurrection. That’s what the apostles called themselves in the early days. (Acts 1: 22) It was the Resurrection that threw light on the identity of Jesus and the purpose of His mission and this they would proclaim in word and in deed.
Their world could be a savage place. It was a time of political oppression, criminals were tortured to death in public and the time would come when Christians themselves would be persecuted. Despite living a quiet life of devotion and service the Christian community was eventually unwelcome in Jerusalem. Stephen was stoned and the believers were scattered. But everywhere they went they preached the Word, they told the story of Jesus. (Acts 8: 4) This was the beginning of the evangelisation of the Roman Empire. The darkest day in the Church’s history to that point was a springboard for mission. Waves of hate may have been directed at them but they responded with the story of God’s love as it had been revealed in the life and mission of Jesus.
I’ll probably never know what it’s like to be on the end of the kind of persecution that we have seen in Sri Lanka and therefore anything I say has to be with utmost humility. What I believe, however, is that the deeper the darkness that falls upon us emphasises the necessity for Christians to continue to preach the God they know. The God who revealed Himself in the life of a ‘man of sorrows’ but through those sorrows revealed the depth of His love for the whole of humankind. We are called to preach this but also to show this to all those engulfed by the darkness. The primary part of the fruit of the Spirit is love. (Galatians 5: 22) The primary response of all Christians to those with whom they have to do is love. It’s just not enough to sound off about the barbarity of those who would carefully plan the destruction of others as they worshipped in Church. Do our lives show a better way?
I haven’t managed to get out to Church on the Lord’s Day as often as I would have liked during this time of illness. It was good then to be at Temple Anniesland this morning and to be blessed under the ministry of Fiona Gardner. The Lord’s Supper was celebrated and it was a great encouragement. At one point in the service the children were asked to go round the congregation and give everyone a daffodil. A man near me was given a yellow bud on the end of a green stalk. The flower had not bloomed. The expression on his face was priceless. I saw my faith in that bud. It is there but it needs to bloom, to be the dynamic force that we see in the first Christians, to be so sure of the love of God that I can face the worst and say with conviction ‘Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!’
I can get there if I stay close to the story and respond to every opportunity for service which shows that I have been truly touched by the love of the Father.
