As I write this, winter has not loosed its icy grip. We are all waiting for spring to arrive at long last.
We are looking forward to all the things that go with Easter - spring flowers, rabbits, eggs and so on but these things are not the true message of Easter. Pagan or secular celebrations are about life returning after the winter - not new, redeemed life but the same old life coming round again. Many people would say this is a vision of hell - to be trapped in an endless cycle with no hope of progress and no hope of escape.
How different is Jesus' Easter message! It proclaims the certainty of change - and change for the better. Jesus' victory over the grave shows us that there is a way to escape the hold that harmful attitudes, habits and forces have over us. Easter shows us that God has not left us to our fate but is for ever at work to bring good out of evil, triumph out of suffering and hope out of despair.
It is a message that needs to be heard. So often people say "I don't know what the world is coming to". They feel helpless to do anything. They may feel trapped in situations at home or at work or that they are victims of other people or circumstances. The Easter message is that things do not have to be like that.
We can be liberated from all the things that prevent us from being the person God wants us to be. It is often said God accepts us as we are. And so he does - but he rarely leaves us just as he finds us. Whenever something threatens to entrap us or close off possibilities, then our Easter faith tells us that is not how it is meant to be and there is a way forward.
We can be all that God intends.
Christ is risen! We are risen!
A joyous Easter to you all.
Peter