Thought For The Week

CREATING COMMUNITIES OF WHOLENESS WITH CHRIST AT THE CENTRE

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18th March

WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF CHRISTIANITY?

What is the good news of Christianity? That's a question to which we should all, I believe be able to give an answer. And it's a question that in various forms I was asked today by Yr 6 Children in Catherine Wayte School.

In response I told this story:

John was baptising at the river Jordan. When you are baptised you say 'sorry, forgive me' for the the things that you have done wrong, and so, as the crowds gathered for baptism John asked each of them what they needed to say sorry for. Soon enough he had lines of liars, theives, even murderers, each with their own badge. And then he saw his cousin Jesus. 'What are you doing here?' he asked, 'You've done nothing wrong'. Jesus looked at him and replied, 'But that's why I'm here, not because I need to be, but because I want to be.' And quietly and simply he went up to each of those waiting and took their badges from them and put them on his own chest. He then went with John into the river to be baptised.

That's what Christian's believe that Jesus did for us on the cross, he took our mistakes, our sins, onto himself and paid the price. So the good news [and the reason why Friday is 'Good Friday'] is that because of the cross we are forgiven, and because of the resurrection we can find new life. That offer of forgiveness and new life is there for us, if only we will ask. And not becasue of anything that we do, but becasue God loves us so much that he is willing to die for us. What could be better news?

11th March

WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN WELCOMING?

Would you have been welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem with shouts of 'Hosanna!'? Or would you have been calling for his death with cries of 'Crucify!'? Or would you have been doing both, as so many people there were?

4th March

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

'What do you believe?' Jesus asks Martha. It's a question that he asks in every one of the Gospels: 'Who do you say I am?' and its a questions that he asks us.

You could have understood if Martha hadn't responded too well to that particular question on that particular day. Her brother has just died, and Jesus was, at best, slow in coming to help. But rather than turning away she gives one of the greatest affirmations of faith in the Bible: 'I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.' [John 11.27] And Jesus has a line of his own 'I am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.' [John 11.25-26]

But alongside the great words of faith, the longings, the grief, of the Martha and Mary and of Jesus, there is also a miracle that trumps everything else. For as Jesus has called so many people, so he calls Lazarus, and even the grave is not too big an obstacle. Larazus rises from the dead, and lives again.

If someone was to ask you the same question: 'What do you believe?' what would you say? And how would you cope with the death and grief and pain that surrounded Martha? Read John 11 and try to imagine yourself there...