Dear Friends,
The natural world is waking up from its winter sleep with renewed signs of life and vigour all around, promising hope for a good harvest and for the future, a sort of crossroad time for nature. This month sees the Easter celebrations quite early on in the month. It is a time of
celebrating new life and hope as we recall and give thanks for the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
During Lent some of us have been using the Wild Bright Hope Lent Book, which focuses on a more hopeful perspective to our Christian life. One of the contributors writes about the feeling that the Church of England is at a crossroad and of the choices that need to be made to take the right direction of travel for the future, likening it to the image of the cross of Christ and of his passion and death.
Crossroads make us choose. They are places of discernment and decision-making in seeking the right way forward in getting where we want to be, or more appropriately where God wants us to be. In our life we often come to crossroads and have to choose which way to go. Sometimes this can be a painful and difficult experience and there can be feelings of hopelessness and loss. Alternatively, crossroads can lead us to positive change and transformative experiences, bringing bright hope for the future.
I’m sure that I’m not alone in thinking that the Uttoxeter Area of Parishes are at a crossroad at the moment with the need, through prayer and thoughtful conversation, to discern the way forward, in finding a bright hope for the future.
One theologian described hope as an active force that drives us towards the future not yet realised but promised by God and that to be a Christian means being a prisoner to hope (Jugen Moltmann). Zechariah says: ‘Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope’, suggesting there is security in God’s very presence and the promise of bright hope for the future, blessing us more than what we’ve known and experienced before. St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans that ‘hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts.’
I pray that you may find hope and love through God this Easter time as we journey with the risen Christ, not only in our personal lives but in the Uttoxeter Area of Parishes too.
Blessinga
Charles (PTO – Uttoxeter Area)