April 2025

“I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with God! Take heart. Don’t quit.

I’ll say it again: Stay with God.”

Psalm 27: 13-14 TMSG

Greetings,

It’s the Vernal Equinox! Eastertide is upon us.

The season of burgeoning life, brightening light, & bolder hopes is here!

At church, we have been contemplating light and life and hope in the context of God’s kingdom: the peaceable and just realm that Jesus lived and died for. The kin-dom of wellbeing for all Creation that Paul promised.i

Wholeness, holiness, and wellbeing have been “Love’s redeeming work”ii from the beginning of all things. And will be until the Kindom is sorted. But, at certain times and in certain places, Love goes into overdrive. At the cosmos’ creation, for example.

And whenever conflict or callous disregard threaten ANY of God’s beloved. Holy Week and Easter rank among Love’s top output periods.

What a week! An anti-Empire parade on the Sunday. A Monday marked by a demonstration against oppressive religious structures. Thursday was bittersweet for Jesus – and for Love. Freedom was celebrated, food was shared, goodbyes and good advice were exchanged. Only to end in horror: evidence-less charges, excruciating torture, and execution by the cruellest method available. Jesus died. Love took a brutal beating.

But then came Sunday: it was BRILLIANT! Jesus was released from death and reunited with his friends. Love was revived! Hope was reborn!

But what happened on the Saturday?

Neither heaven nor the tomb have shared their secrets of that day. (Jesus did not go down into hell. Hell is a heart condition, not a cosmologic quarter. “Down” is Australia and New Zealand – lovely places!)

The more important question is, what was Saturday like for Jesus’ followers?

How did they pass the 30 or so hours from Jesus’ last breath to Earth’s whole new inspiration? What can they teach us about coping with grief and despair?

Jesus’ relatives and friends, pupils and colleagues came together. They gathered in solidarity to weep, and laugh, and pray. Men and women, brave or fearful, hope-filled or hopeless, held onto one another. They clung to memories of Jesus and to his message. The Kingdom stayed fully in focus.

The caring, committed Jesus community created the space for resurrection to happen. Their love helped make Love’s redeeming work a reality.

Sunday is coming!

Renewal and revival will occur!

But, right now, it’s still Saturday – and much work remains to be done.

WE CAN DO IT!

WE WILL HELP ACOMPLISH THE KINGDOM!

LOVE IS ALREADY RISING!

Wishing you a Holy Week and Easter filled with God’s richest blessings,

Brenda

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i Isaiah 11: 1-9; Luke 4: 16-21; Romans 8:19-22

ii Charles Wesley, “Christ the Lord Risen Is Today”, 1739