Easter lockdown a chance to reflect

A LOT can happen in a week.

Within a week our regular life has changed as we moved into Alert Level 4 to prevent the spread of Covid19.

We stay home to protect one another. We tune into the updates from our leaders to hear the progress of the response to Covid19. And when we go out we practise physical distancing.

The patterns of our life have been interrupted and there is a natural sort of fear in the air.

Fear can shape our lives in powerful ways. We have a human need to be safe. When we are fearful we react to what is threatening us and act to make ourselves safe.

The fear causes survival instincts that sees us hoarding toilet paper, yeast and flour. And we hurry around trying to make sure that we have what we need and try to make ourselves feel secure.

Whilst the coronavirus has made fear very visible, many of our lives are shaped by fear.

We can define fear as an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of pain or harm. Fear can present itself in our lives in many ways — fear of exclusion, fear of failure, fear of being left behind, fear of ourselves and so on.

Many of us have areas in our lives where fear rules us — where it causes us to be locked up, to be confined, to be less than God made us to be.

In our fearfilled time, Christians around the world are celebrating Easter.

The church will read the Bible, use YouTube, Zoom and podcasts to tell the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We will share how Jesus Christ arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey, was greeted by cheering crowds.

Within a few days, the same crowds were calling for his death and he was brutally killed on a cross and buried.

The life of Jesus’ disciples was interrupted, and they were filled with fear. The disciples ran and hid. They made plans about how they would survive. And yet, in the lockdown of death and the darkness of a tomb, God’s love was still at work.

On Sunday morning, the disciples found the tomb empty and discovered that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

Easter is a celebration of the love of God that cannot be stopped not even by fear and death. In 1 John 4:18 the Bible says that “perfect love drives out fear.”

When Jesus walked from the tomb something changed in the world. Rather than fear hanging in the air and shaping our lives, the love of God fills the world.

Just as God’s love overcomes death, it overcomes the fear that shapes our lives and actions. At Easter we celebrate this perfect love that sets us free from fear so that we can live reflecting the endless love of God.

As we celebrate the triumph of God’s love, we also hear an invitation. It is an invitation to live by the love of God rather than by fear.

Whilst we are at Alert Level 4, we need to stay physically locked down. But the lockdown is merely a physical lockdown.

Our hearts and minds have been set free from fear by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This can be a time for us to pause, to breathe, to reflect on the love that has been abundantly poured out for us in Jesus Christ.

It can be a time to reach out to connect with others and share kindness and love. It can be a time for reaching out to God without fear, in the knowledge that it is with love that God looks at you.

May you discover the love of God that never fails and find your life shaped by love.

❛ But the lockdown is merely a physical lockdown.