Dear Friends

News that Bishop Michael, the Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia and literally our “next door neighbour” here at the Rectory has just a few weeks to live, has just flashed across the internet and into my inbox. Five years ago, when an advanced form of prostate cancer was first diagnosed, this was the predicted outcome. As we hold him in our prayers, it is with thankfulness for his lively faith and witness, which continues to the end. In contrast, some very happy news came to our church service, this morning (2^nd January 2011), as Rachel and Julian announced their engagement.

Two contrasting announcements. And we also see a similar contrast between Christmas and Easter. If Christmas is a celebration about birth, about God’s love, and the joy of the angels in heaven; then Easter, the next major Christian festival, is the shocking story about death, about God’s judgement, and our accountability. In Christianity, love and death events are not only very closely related, but as in real life, they very often occur together.As we approach Lent, in the build up to Easter, it is traditionally (and rightfully) a time to take stock, a time for some honest and heartfelt reflection; a time to hold ourselves accountable for our self-centredness and our lack of love; a time to take on board the consequences of our actions and a time to recognise our great need of God’s forgiveness. Our accountability towards God is viewed with great seriousness in the Bible, and we are told that our destiny hangs on our response to God (Romans 8:13). It may surprise you to know, that Jesus speaks as much about judgement, as he does about love, as much about hell, as he does about heaven.

In these coming months, may I ask you, therefore, especially if you are the sceptical type, to spend a few moments reflecting on the meaning of both the Christmas and the Easter stories? Look at it like this: if God was entering our world, then, I am sure you would agree, he would want to do so in a special and unique way. And this is exactly what happens in the Christmas story: His conception to a virgin; his arrival announced by angels. None of this follows the normal pattern of events: but if it was God entering our world, then we would certainly expect his entrance to be extraordinary and unique. And likewise, the Easter story: his exit from this earth. You would expect that to be unique as well; and so it is. About thirty three years later, the Bible says, Jesus died, then three days later he rose from the dead, and then forty days later he ascended into heaven. No matter how or which way you look at this, it does not follow the normal sequence of events when someone dies and exits from this earth. But, if Jesus Christ is God, then we would expect something different and unique to happen. It will benefit you, in ways it is not possible to fully imagine, to further ponder these stories, and to ask God to reveal to you what it means.

The Bible says, if we face up to our accountability, and find salvation in Christ, then our destiny in heaven is secured. It follows, that we are no longer at the mercy of the ups and downs and the unpredictability of life. But rather, in the mix of life and death events, which we all face day to day, we shall rest deeply secure, in the knowledge of his love and his peace in our hearts, both now and into eternity.

With Every Blessing