Getting Married at Holy Trinity
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Easter Story If you’ve been to church a few times – you have probably heard the Easter story – the story of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – a good few times. Even if you only ever come to church at Christmas and Easter – then you have probably still got a fair idea of the events which happened on that first Easter Day.. So we come to Church again this Easter – and we sing the Easter hymns, and hear the familiar Easter story. And just maybe - while it was being read – your mind began to wander – and you might have secretly been thinking - what’s so amazing and incredible about this story that we remember it every year! Jesus was dead but he’s been raised to life and is alive today ! So what! Well, firstly - if we have heard this Easter story before, we shouldn’t necessarily think that everyone has therefore heard it! The other week I had a class of sixth form students visit the church here and I was asked to share with them about the Anglican Church and the changes which took place at the time of the Reformation in the 15 and 16th centuries. I spoke about our Anglican Prayer Book, and the translation of the Bible into English – and I mentioned the four gospels – and one student – quite innocently and inquisitively asked me “What is a Gospel?” I don’t know whether she has ever heard the Easter message which we celebrate today. And secondly - Perhaps it’s all become too familiar to us. Perhaps we would appreciate just how those women felt on that first Easter morning if we made it more personal and changed the context a bit! So imagine, for a moment, that we have a very close friend from overseas, staying with us for some time. Suddenly he dies, and in total shock, after the doctor has been and certified him truly dead - we ring up the undertaker – and Mark Rowley comes around and after the preliminary details are gathered, our friend’s body is taken down to the funeral home in Anne Street. We ring up the parents of our friend and break the news to them. – and then wait for them to arrive on the next available plane. Three days later we meet them at the airport and amidst grief and tears we try to explain as best we can. The car journey from the airport to the funeral home is in almost total silence. Mark greets us at the Funeral Home and ushers us down the passage-way to the locked private viewing room where the body had been laid three days before. He opens the door and ushers us in – but we think it’s a bad joke - because the coffin is empty ! – even though the clothes we had dressed the body in are all there in the coffin in the exact same position there were - except that they are flat – collapsed like the body has simply evaporated through them, - and even the cloth veil draped across and over the coffin has fallen in. His body is not there! And then in an instant we become aware of a presence – a person in white - who tells us – can you believe it! - - to go back home - back to your house, – and his parents back to the Uk.-- and that our Friend would meet us there! Can you imagine for a moment what you would feel? That’s how it must have been to those women , and then later in the day – to the disciples. If we had been told to return home , back to the Ordinary things , and that He would be there, alive, to meet us on our arrival – would those Ordinary things we were returning to, remain Ordinary? Nothing would be normal again, would it! Just the other night on T.V. news, and again highlighted in yesterday mornings Herald, we saw and read the story of a strange case in Australia where a 14year old girl, Natasha Ryan who had gone missing without trace for four years and eight months. - no evidence of her whereabouts or what happened to her - was suddenly discovered, alive and well , and living not far from her family. The puzzled and bewildered and almost speechless expressions of the father said it all! They couldn’t figure it out? He had so many questions to ask! I would guess that a few years ago – I don’t know how many – maybe 2 or 3 or 4 – after their daughter had gone missing without trace – the parents and family would surely have had to come to terms with the inevitable struggle that they wouldn’t see her again. I guess they would have to settle their lives down to some kind of “normality” . – that she wouldn’t be coming home! And then the extraordinary happens – she turns up – alive and well! Nothing is normal again – is it! I can only guess that the same was true of Jesus’ family and his followers after that first Easter Day. Nothing was normal again! The disciples – after just a few days in Jerusalem – return to Galilee – back to their country town of Capernaum on the shore of Lake Galilee – away from the city life and the constant harassing of the Roman soldiers – and I guess they expected to return to their old jobs, now that Jesus was not actually there with them! But nothing was normal again! When they returned to the nets and their trusty fishing boat – and that’s one way to get back to normal – Jesus is there, on the shore, - suggesting where they ought to cast their nets. That’s what Easter is about, and the Resurrection! Everything is different - everything is changed, nothing is normal again because Jesus is alive, and He has gone ahead - to the Galilee of our lives where we will meet him. The Risen Jesus Christ goes before us to the Galilee of our lives – and is there present – in the Supermarket and in the Surgery; in the workshop and the waiting room; in the Boardroom and the schoolroom; in the kitchen or beside the computer. He is there in the living room and in the baby’s room. “He is going to Galilee ahead of you. There you will see Him, just as he told you.” Let us pray:
Lord, we open our hearts to you, the Risen Lord, that we may see you
through the eyes of faith. Thank you for all you suffered for us on the Cross; and
thank you for the reality of
the empty tomb. So, fill our hearts now with your living presence and power, and help
us to reach out and meet you in the Galilee of our lives--- just as you told us.
Amen.
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