It’s Easter morning, and we had chocolate for breakfast, so all’s well. Except that somewhere in our house there is a Lindt bunny! I had to hide it because I had already eaten it’s fellow but now, I can’t find it anywhere. The frustration is terrible, particularly as all Easter eggs have sold out, everywhere. Mike did a tour yesterday of Devizes’ shops and there wasn’t a single one left. Because obviously Easter is all about chocolate, bunnies, (not rabbits), and new life, spring etc. Except it’s so much more than that. I think it’s about realising that we are being pursued by a God, who has gone to extreme lengths to allow us to choose him. We get to decide whether to accept his love or not.
One of my favourite programs is ‘Escape to the Country.’ Couples, who are looking to move, are shown three houses, normally somewhere rather lovely, they might like to buy, and then they have to guess the price. At the very end there is a one liner, “they made an offer and it was accepted”, or “they were pipped at the post by another buyer”. That’s the bit I’m interested in, the end of the story. Did they like one of the houses enough to put in an offer? What happened? How did the story end? Did they move in? What did they do to make their new life work? And that’s the point of Easter. What happened next, how the story unfolded from there. Can you imagine, just for one second, how any of Jesus’ followers felt, literally locked up in a room, hearts twisted with grief and fear and bewilderment. What happens next? What was it like when Jesus turned up. “Hi, I’m back!”
I love to imagine what it was like, because we all know that we are more than the sum of our cells, our biological beings. Life is mysterious, dare I say spiritual. Pain, grief, love, forgiveness, joy, excitement, all come from a place deep within that is hard to explain, even taking into consideration our complexity. We are wonderfully and fearfully made, and there has to be more than this. So happy Easter, and don’t be afraid to explore the deep things. They will hopefully lead you to the conclusion, that you are loved.
