Ministers Desk 8th April 2012

Christ is Risen!

                                He is risen indeed!

This is the centuries old refrain that we greet each other with on Easter Sunday. 

There is a great depth of claims made in these few words.

We name Jesus as the Christ.  The long awaited saviour.  Jesus Christ is the one who will bring about God’s transformation and restore a right relationship between God and all creation.  Our Easter Sunday cry affirms that this is more than just a mortal man that we are talking about.  The Christian church affirms that Jesus is God in human form.  Fully God, fully human. 

 For Christ to be risen, he must have died.  This cry affirms the death of Jesus.  People will claim that Jesus did not die, that he only appeared to die.  If this were so, it would bring into doubt our own ability to experience life after death.  The gospel writers were very careful to include proof of the death of Jesus.

When we proclaim that Christ is risen, it is a claim that speaks of eternal life.  Other stories in the bible tell us of people who have come back to life, so that they may die again.  The claim about Jesus is that he rises to eternal life.  Death no longer has a claim on him.

This claim of resurrection life is for Jesus and for us indeed.  Easter Sunday has transformed the world for now and forever.  Traditional understandings of life, death and human relationships are forever transformed. 

Today, and in the coming days I invite you to spend some time prayerfully reflecting on this phrase.  Here are some suggestions on what you could do:

·        Praise God for what he has done through Jesus Christ

·        Find bible passages that support the statements that I have made above.  In both the Old and New Testaments, there are verses that underlie our faith and inform our beliefs.

·        Reflect on the transformation that the resurrection has made for you, this world and the future.

·        Share with another person what Easter means to you.