Take time to ponder the Easter message

THE Easter Festival helps us to celebrate life in all its fullness. The experiences of the isolations imposed on us in the current pandemic have made us aware that we have not been able to live as we would want or could.

The bonds of love and concern within the circle of our family and friends and neighbours have been curbed and our humanity has been diminished. We have been denied the togetherness of being with one another which makes life worthwhile.

As the restrictions are slowly lifted over our movements and socialising in the next few weeks, we will discover something of the real experiences of Easter that God wants us to enjoy.

There will be the freedom to explore the richness and dimensions that life has in store for all of us.

We can recover the real joy in our friendships and family life that we often take for granted and that we are built to embrace one another.

We will see that the freedoms we yearn for are more than escapes from situations that hold us back but also situations in which we are free to do great things in our life.

God is in our future just as He has been present throughout our existence, including the pain and stresses of the last year.

The message of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is more than a happy ending to his story or ours, it is the challenge to live to our full potential as human beings.

We can breathe a sigh of relief that the pandemic, with all its sorrows and pains, is coming to an end but we must also breathe in the fresh air of freedom for a future that will cherish the heroism in the human heart and the selfless love in us all that has brought us to where we are.

We may not be able to celebrate the Festival of Easter as we would like or as we used to but we can take time to ponder what are the true experiences of the great event it commemorates.

When we read the stories of the risen Lord Jesus and his encounters with his friends, we are struck time and time again by the fantastic new outlook on life these men and women are given.

There is the freshness of forgiveness in human relationships and in seeing the gift of life through the eyes of our Creator, (John 21:15-19).

There are the wonderful new bonds of love that emerge in the disciples and followers of Jesus.

This message cannot be kept a secret. It travels far and wide whenever we let others know how it can change the world because it has changed us.

As one of the old Easter hymns reminds us “A brighter dawn is breaking and earth with praise is breaking...

“O free the world from blindness and fill the world with kindness.” Everyone needs a Happy Easter. Canon George Burgon,

Barton Seagrave