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Website last updated on 2nd May 2009. |
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Our Minister
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Telephone Number: 01252 544823
Email: linda.phillips@theinvernet.co.uk
Linda writes (taken from our May 2009 newsletter) ...
Dear Friends,
By the time you read this letter all our celebrating of Easter will be just a fading memory, and spring is nearly over, the daffodils have faded, other plants are sprouting vigorously, and the lawn needs mowing. The year moves on through Spring, the clocks have gone forward and we begin to think of summer, warmer weather and holidays. The cycle of the seasons continues year after year. But I hope that despite the familiarity of the festival coming and going yet again, in all our varied worship through these past weeks we will have been challenged once more with the choice that God places before us in the coming of his Son. How will we react to the coming of Jesus? Will it be with doubt and eventually rejection, or perhaps the familiarity of it all blunts the message, so that we almost don’t notice the good news that Jesus came to tell, or in recognising our Risen Lord do we find once more our faith and life renewed?
I wonder what has the passage of the Easter season has meant to you this year? In my reflections I was particularly struck by one of the readings for Palm Sunday, a passage from Paul’s letter to the Church at Philippi. In chapter 2, Paul quotes an early hymn in praise of Jesus, which talks of how in coming to earth, being born as a human being, Jesus “emptied himself” (v.7). The Son of God gave up everything in obedience to his Father’s will, and in humility lived the life of a poor itinerant preacher, and died the shameful death of a condemned criminal. One of my commentaries refers to Jesus as a “downwardly mobile Saviour”! How willing are we to be “downwardly mobile” in response to the love that Jesus showed?
We may feel we are fairly near the bottom of the heap in our society already, but even if we don’t, perhaps being “downwardly mobile” is not so much about giving up status and possessions and living in poverty, but about an attitude of heart and mind. It’s about the caring which puts others first, before our own convenience and comfort; it’s about the generosity which not only gives in material terms, but in love and encouragement of those struggling under heavy burdens; it’s about faith and obedience to God’s will which may lead us down unexpected and even painful paths.
But of course it’s not easy to live this challenging life that we are called to, and we are constantly faced with the question of how to express our faith in our actions, and it’s only through faith and a close walk with God that we are enabled to do that. In this time between Easter and Pentecost, as the disciples waited to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, may we too take time to reflect on how Jesus was “downwardly mobile” for our sakes, and yet he also defeated death, and set a great hope in our hearts of new life, a fresh start, a resurrection no matter how dark the present moment may seem, and gives to us the power of the Holy Spirit to live as he lived.
May every blessing be yours in this Easter season, and in the months to come.
With Christian greetings,
Linda