Easter is our celebration of hope. Sure hope. Not a vague wish. Certain hope. Wild hope. Hope beyond our largest dreams or imaginings. That God cares enough about you and me, about our world, to come into our world and live as a man. To suffer injustice, torture and death. And like our world today in Covid and conflict, into a situation that was bleak, dark and hopeless, in a very personal way, the risen Christ speaks Mary's name (John 20:16), the risen Christ speaks our name.
Easter means hope amidst whatever would drag us down - in our lives or in the life of the world. Whatever burden, illness, or sorrow afflicts our hearts, our Saviour is risen. In darkness, we can know the light of hope.
There are three aspects of that hope:
The hope of forgiveness; the freedom & the exhilaration of knowing all our debts are cancelled.
The hope of growth; of breaking free from old habits and patterns of living and relating to others.
The hope of resurrection; of one day living forever with Jesus, and looking forward to a world which no longer knows pain, sin and war.
I trust you know these hopes this Easter. Please contact me if you would like to explore that more, or if you would like to find out more about pastoral supervision or consultancy for your church.
© 2022 Ian Duncum. All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.
Rev Dr Ian Duncum is a trained and accredited (with John Mark Ministries) church consultant with over 20 years experience of working with non-profit enterprises and churches across a number of denominations. This has also included denominational leadership in church health and development and church research in the tertiary education sector. An accredited minister with a track record of growing churches, Ian also trains church consultants, facilitates training for ministers and leaders, and mentors/supervises pastors and other leaders. He can be contacted at www.ianduncum.com.au or duncum@internode.on.net