Lent, Holy Week and Easter 2021

I write in the middle of Lent and this pamphlet will take us through Holy Week, the great celebration of Easter and on with our consideration of living today in the light of the Resurrection.

The Gospel for this last Sunday was Jesus' first prediction of his suffering, rejection, death and resurrection. The disciple Peter takes Jesus on one side, and effectively says, "No, you've got that wrong, I've seen the Roman crosses lining the roads and trust me, they are not for you."  And Jesus in the strongest possible terms replies to Peter, "No, Peter, you have got that wrong, and if you are a follower of mine, this is the way for you too, yet paradoxically you will find it to be the very way of life and peace."

I think I would have sided with Peter, if I had been bold enough.  And so Jesus would say to me too, "Another Peter!  You have got it wrong too!."

The Gospel is crystal clear that the way to life for Jesus lies through suffering, rejection, death and then resurrection.  The Christian faith probably only solely exists because of the resurrection.  So, we are Christian because of the resurrection. Praise God, it brings us life, and hope, and joy.  Yet there can be no resurrection for Jesus or for us without death.  Death and resurrection go together, and they always will. On Good Friday I find myself wanting to talk about Easter Day.  On Easter Day I find myself wanting to talk about Good Friday.  The two go together, they have to do so.

In this time of pandemic, we face our mortality as a global village, as individuals face it with every diagnosis of a life limiting illness.

The author Philip Simmons, who died at the age of 45 of a life limiting disease, wrote like this… “To accept death is to live with a profound sense of freedom... Only when we accept our present condition can we set aside fear and discover the love and compassion that are our highest human endowments.... And in such action, we find peace."   As we live in the light of the death and also the resurrection of Jesus may we too live without fear, and with love, compassion and peace.  May these be our Lent, Holy Week and Easter gifts, this year and always. 

God bless, 

With love from Peter                                                     Revd Canon Peter Greenwood