Articles - From the Vicar

Dear Friends

What do you think of when you think of Easter? Chocolate? Flowers? New birth in the natural world? Or what about joy? There is real joy in the gospel stories of the Resurrection as the disciples experience Christ with them in a completely new and unexpected way. His physical existence had passed into a spiritual presence that would leave none of them unchanged. They were surprised by joy and they soon realised that this joy was one of the fruits of having the Spirit of Christ at work within their lives.

All sorts of simple things can bring us joy, such as the wonder of the natural world or the love of family and friends. All sorts of things can undermine our joy as well. In particular the feeling that we want to be somebody else, living somewhere else, doing something different, having something extra. But if you were to think of people you know who are joyful you may well end up thinking of a young child, a wonderful elderly person or even people in supposedly under-developed countries. While many of us have a sort of restless striving that robs us of our joy, these are people who seem able to accept life as it comes. By doing that they are open to the joy in it. They seem able to do this even in the midst of problems and pains. In other words what threatens our joy is not our troubles but an inability to accept ourselves as we are and life as it is.

Perhaps that's where the Spirit comes in. If we know ourselves to be of true worth and value, because God loves us, forgives us, accepts us and delights in us, this begins to set us free. It begins to release us from our restless, anxious striving so that we can respond to life more joyfully. Yes we are all called to become more like Christ, but this is not brought about by anxious striving but by relaxing and discovering that the Spirit of God is within us and around us. If I don't have to strive to be different, or to have a different life, then I am more able to experience the wonder that is all about me now. Young children seem especially good at this as they lose themselves in investigating a flower or an insect. Maybe that's why Jesus said we had to become like children if we are to enter his Kingdom. Maybe it really is all about "considering the lilies of the field" (or whatever we have in front of us) and finding joy welling up within us. What more appropriate way could there be to celebrate Easter than to be surprised by joy and to welcome it back into our lives.

So please do have a joyful Easter.

With best wishes
David

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay