Rivertown United Reformed Church

My dear friends,

Let me begin by asking you two questions. First of all, I wonder what it is that you find hardest to believe. Out of all the things you believe, which of them demands of you the most faith? I can still remember as a child planting my first packet of seeds in our small garden. It took a lot of faith to believe that some time later lots of brightly coloured flowers would appear. But they did. My mother kept on encouraging me to believe it would happen and, even though I often gave up, it did!

For most people the thing that they find hardest to believe is that a dead person can live again. And that comes as no surprise, does it, because we have all encountered the finality of death. And yet Easter is about a dead person who lives again: but, more importantly, who will never die again! The death of Jesus had certainly been final. He had been tortured and crucified; he had been wrapped in burial clothes and placed in a sealed tomb. Yet, three days later, he was seen by many people and proclaimed to be alive again.

What is the thing you find hardest to believe? That's the first question. The second is this: what would you like to happen for the greatest good of everyone? Your answers will probably include finding cures for cancer, for heart disease, for asthma, for MS, for Alzheimer's disease, for AIDS - for a whole host of fatal and debilitating illnesses. Yes it would be great, wouldn't it? But even if cures were to be found, some realistic person would say, "Big deal. So what? We've still got to die in the end. Nobody can avoid death." And, of course, that's perfectly true. Even Lazarus, who was raised to life by Jesus after four days in the tomb, still had to die again.

Thinking about those two questions, then, I want to say this. The most wonderful thing I would want to believe, and the greatest good I would want to wish on anybody is this - a full life after death, in a place of supreme contentment and peace, for an eternity that wouldn't end up being boring. That, I believe is what Easter shows us in the Resurrection life of Jesus. Jesus rose to a new quality of life that could not be touched again by death. It was life in all its fullness, life that would go on joyfully for ever! So it is resurrection life, I believe, that everyone secretly craves for in their heart of hearts. This is the real thing!

Again, some people may say: all well and good, but that's in the future - I'm concerned about now. What does the Resurrection mean to me now? What can it mean for me at this present moment in time?

When Jesus hung on the cross at Calvary, dying of a broken heart, something wonderful was happening. What was it that caused the broken heart of Jesus? I believe it was the fact that people refused to accept the message he brought from God. And that message was about God's unconditional love for each and every one of us. Even though we had rejected God and lived selfish lives, hurting both ourselves and others, Jesus came with good news. If we were truly sorry and put all our trust in him, then we would be able to enjoy and appreciate the tremendous love that God has for each one of us. We would in fact become his friends. Not that God's heart needed changing from enmity to friendship. The God we see throughout the Bible is the God who has always yearned for friendship with men and women and children. It's because we so often reject his offer that God's heart is broken. That's why Jesus came. To be a living picture of God's unconditional love. And when that love was rejected, Jesus hung on the cross and died of a broken heart.

The incredible thing that was happening at Calvary, therefore, was this: God was making us his friends. Theresurrection is the seal and certainty of what happened on the cross. It says that we can enjoy being God's friends if we accept what God proclaimed there in Jesus. God wants us to stop trying to earn our way into his favour and realize that all we have to do is accept it. As the hymn says: "There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin; he only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in." That's what the cross is all about - breaking down our barriers; renewing a friendship that's always been there on God's side. "God has made us his friends," was the way the Apostle Paul put it in his letter to the Colossian church. The New Testament word for all this is "reconciliation" - coming together. The broken heart was worth it for God; the tears and pain and suffering and death were all worth it; and God said yes to it all in the Resurrection.

The death and resurrection of Jesus is a display of the heart of God for the people he made; it is an eternal display, because it shows us what God is like all the time. The cross was not an out-of-character snapshot taken when God was in a good mood, but a picture of God as he always is: the one who yearns for a relationship with human beings. In it we see God doing everything he possibly could - going to the uttermost - to get us back.

God has made us, and even though we didn't want to belong to him, he did everything that was needful to bring us back. Easter is an event which reverberates in every time and age, every day and hour, every minute and second. It makes the resurrection power of Jesus available to each and every one of us, now, at this very moment.

Today we are embarking on the journey of the rest of our lives. The resurrection of Jesus tells us that he is travelling with us and sharing the journey: its ups and downs, its joys and sorrows - as a friend. That is the good news of Easter. The Lord is risen! And he is with us! Thanks be to God!

With all this in mind, there can be no better time for new beginnings than Easter. And Rivertown URC is celebrating a new beginning of its own this Easter: the launch of its web site on the internet. A lot of work has gone into the preparation and setting up of the site and we are tremendously grateful to Paul Byrne for doing this on our behalf.

Now that we have a site on the internet people from all over the world (quite literally!) will be able to learn about the worship, life and activities of Rivertown. People who have moved into the area and are looking for a local church to attend will be able to access us first of all on the internet. It will also be a great opportunity for pursuing the witness that we give to Jesus Christ. Those who are housebound and have access to the internet will be able to keep in touch and open up a variety of information from news items, information about worship, sermons and prayers, the Spark magazine, and so on. The possibilities are limitless!

Remember, however, that the Rivertown URC site will only be as good as each of us who endeavour to keep on contributing to it. So let me encourage you to take an active part in supporting and using the site - if and when you are able. It is a valuable resource of the twenty-first century, and we have now joined countless other churches - not only in the URC but throughout the world - in making our life and witness more widely known. May God bless all our efforts as we seek to serve and proclaim the good news of the Gospel!

A joyous Easter to you all, with sincere Christian greetings from your friend and minister,

Greg