Thursday Offering from Fr Marcus 1st April 2021
My Dear Friends,
At the beginning of Lent I set us all a challenge to reflect on What Easter means to me, and to revisit it during the progress of Lent to see if, the more we thought about it the more it would develop.
I used the imagery of a Poet or Songwriter revisiting their lyrics until they got them just right.
Well Thank You for everyone who has contacted me saying that you are trying this, and for those who have found it useful, I am so pleased.
I have to say my journey has been really helpful personally, so I will share some of it with you.
I began reflecting on a hugely important time, when in 1997 I spent 3 months on a Kibbutz near Emmaus, just outside Jerusalem. I used to worship in a French speaking Benedictine Monastery, and spent Easter with them.
On Good Friday we walked the Via Doloroso, the processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem, believed to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion.
It was such a moving experience – the crowds were so full of emotion and it seemed somehow more powerful than ever walking that route on such an evocative day.
All sorts of things were going through my mind. The first was that we were being escorted by armed guards carrying machine guns. It was a very volatile situation. The rule was if were on the procession you were not allowed to leave, and if you were not on it, you were not allowed to join en route! This was a safety measure, and difficult to control as there were hundreds if not thousands taking part.
I remember being moved by the emotions of the people. Men and women of all ages openly wailing and sobbing as they walked along in silence. Their tears, along with mine were in memory of the pain and suffering that Jesus went through, but perhaps more so to do with the expression of hate and intolerance that he received which was still apparent. How could people respond with such violence to a message of Love and Peace and Reconciliation proclaimed by a man telling stories, and encouraging people without the use of force.
I remember seeing burnt out tanks left by the side of the road (Not on that day, but previously) and it broke my heart. I wondered what we had learned about tolerance and inclusion. Remember this was 1997 and social feelings were very rigid. Apartheid still reigned in South Africa, Women were still excluded from Ministry within the church, and gender issues and equality was still the object of ridicule.
I joined with my fellow pilgrims crying and sobbing and full of emotion and distress.
Every step a tear
Every tear a prayer
And our prayers will be heard
They fill the air.
For years I had those emotional thoughts when during my ministry we have had various ‘Walk of Witness’ processions on Good Friday. Usually silent and meaningful, and passers by stopping what they were doing and gentlemen doffing their caps.But they never quite got the power of doing it in Jerusalem, nor the rawness of feeling the presence of current expressions of injustice and hatred. But they are still there.
However as I continued to reflect on my thoughts about Easter I moved on to focussing on ‘That was then and this is now’, by which I mean that you and I know the whole story. We know about Good Friday, but also about the Glory of the Resurrection and the Risen Jesus calling Mary Magdalen by name, and the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognising Jesus in the breaking of the bread. We know about the Holy Spirit, the spread of the Gospel, the birth and growth of the Church and the life of faith that we enjoy.
So however much I try, I can’t imagine what Jesus and his disciples went through. I have never felt that emotion the disciples must have felt when they saw Jesus buried in a tomb and they didn’t know what to do or think.
In the past, and particularly at the beginning of this Lent I have tried to focus on this by reading aloud the stories of the Passion, and trying to be part of it, or feel part of it. It has in itself been moving and once again I was close to tears as we read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and death on Palm Sunday. But with the best will in the world I still felt a bit distant because I know what comes next.
Jesus, silent in front of his accusers
The sound of the nails being hammered through his skin and bone.
Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing,
And he breathed his last.
What do we do, but squabble about nothing
and want our wills not his be done.
It was last week that I had my revelation, and realised that I had set us all the wrong task. So apologies for that. It is precisely the wrong question and it is designed to put us in the centre and I should have thought about it some more.
You see, it is not about what we think, or how it affects us, but absolutely about What God has done.
It is he who took the initiative, and saw us missing the point of being created in order that he could love us. It is he who walked among us to show us how to love and how to live. It is he who, through the absolute and unconditional commitment of Jesus taught us that he exists in glory, but that he put us first. It is he, God, who brought about the resurrection and changed the world view of everything. In response to that nothing can come between us and him, not even death. He made all things new. He gives new life, new hope, new beginnings, new choices and chances and a new reason to live.
I have come that you may have life, and may have it in all its fullness.
It is not about us. It is always about God. All we can do is respond to the glorious things he has done, and to take them seriously. It is his world and he heals it his way.
So, what have I learned
That the world doesn’t revolve around me. I am not the centre of anything. It is God’s world, and he chooses to put me and you in the centre of his love.
That we all are called to work for Peace and Reconciliation, and there are so many injustices and divisions still to overcome. Some at home, and some on a massive scale, and when we ignore them, we send Jesus back to the cross.
Finally, because of his grace, I can try and pray daily ‘Not my will, but thine be done’.
In so doing, I trust, indeed I know, that I can be at ease with my God, myself and the world.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!