Easter Day, a time for celebration - Easter eggs and bunnies? Yes to all of that! After all Easter eggs and bunnies are a reminder to us of new life and that really is the message of the Christian festival of Easter - Jesus rose from the dead and through him we can all have new life.
Easter comes at the end of the Church’s season of Lent, traditionally a time for reflection on our life and relationship with God. The season began on Ash Wednesday, when Christians may have received the sign of the cross on the forehead in ash with the words: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The use of ash and the words spoken reminding us of our creation by a loving God and inspiring us to take time to consider those things that we may have done or said which have not demonstrated his love for everyone. Because we all fail, every day, in big or small ways. It is part of being human. Failure is inevitable, but it isn’t the end of the story.
This year, during Lent, the Church of England provided a resource to support people in this reflective journey - ‘Dust and Glory’, encouraging us to think about how we can live well in the mess of everyday life. Reminding us that if we were to judge others - or ourselves - only by what we get wrong, there would not be much hope. The sign of the cross shows us that in Jesus, we find hope in the God who transforms failure into glory.
All of the characters we read of in the Bible have their failures but they are also a part of the much larger and longer story of God’s people. They clearly demonstrate that our human failure doesn’t prevent us from being a part of God’s people and doing God’s work in the world. The Bible shows us that the end of our story is written by God and calls us to put our trust in him. For everyone has a place in God’s story and everyone has a home in God’s heart.
May you know the transforming love of God for you this Easter.
+ Sarah Shrewsbury