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Easter Message from
Fakenham Parish Church |
Jesus Christ
is Risen!
He is Risen
indeed! Alleluia!
On Good
Friday I came into this church at 7.30am to open the church,
say a few prayers, and wonder what the day would bring.
It was the
day of the Good Friday Workshop. How many children would
arrive, would it go well? – The Victorian hymn went through
my mind –
Trust and
obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus,
but to trust
and obey
Yes I needed
to trust God that the day would go well, and it did.
At 9.45am -
we opened the church doors and children kept coming in. With
54 children and over 30 adult helpers it was an
extraordinary time. But what interested me most were the
questions that children came up to ask.
Why did
Jesus have to die painfully on a cross? Why did Jesus have
to die? Why did the women disciples come to the tomb so
early and so on. Whilst everyone else was working hard, my
job was to walk round and see what was going on in the
workshops, but more importantly to listen to the many
questions of the children.
Now these
were children asking questions. What about us?
Are we
waiting to be convinced are we partially convinced, or are
we totally convinced?
Don’t worry
where you are or that someone sitting next to you seems to
be totally convinced and you feel inadequate. Faith is a
gradual thing for many, and gradually our lives change and
we are given time so eventually the penny will drop.
As a child I
had dreadful trouble trying to read – I had an excellent
teacher who tried every method of teaching me and never gave
up. It was only later that the School realised that I had
problems with certain letters and when tired saw them the
wrong way round. But when I could read, I read everything
that I could find. Most people find something in life
difficult and faith it bit like that as well. Some find
faith very difficult and have doubts – I always feel sorry
for St Thomas because he was not with the disciples at the
right time- and ever since has been called, ‘Doubting
Thomas.’
On Easter
morning the women set off to anoint the dead boy of Jesus
not knowing what was going to happen. When they arrived at
the tomb they found that the stone which had sealed the tomb
had been rolled back and the body of Jesus stolen so they
thought.
The women
according to St Luke were totally at a loss, they did not
know what to do and they saw two men obviously messengers
from God who asked them a question, ‘Why search among the
dead for one who lives?’
They were
not to know that Jesus had been resurrected, no one else had
every returned from the dead even though Jesus told them he
would, they and the disciples would not believe.
If you take
all the predictions together no one surely should have been
unprepared for this great event. The women were slow to
believe and the disciples were totally unbelieving until
they had physical evidence.
If you do
struggle with your faith then most people do. The early
disciples did, many Saints did, and many clergy and people
today do. To believe that a holy and good man who said he
was the only Son of God could be arrested, tortured,
prepared for crucifixion and to die one of the most
horrendous ways to die ever created, and then to be buried
and to rise again seems too much to believe.
But I
believe it and I hope you also do believe that this actually
is what happened.
Through this
extraordinary event the church began and that is why we and
millions of Christians throughout the world will celebrate
today.
Jesus Christ
is Risen!
He is Risen
indeed! Alleluia.
Adrian
Bell
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