Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 04/Apr/2021]

Have you ever experienced a time when something happened that was so extraordinary, you will never forget it, or where you were and what you were doing when you heard about it or experienced it?

Outside of the births of my three children, when the miracle of those new little lives brought with it a sense of awe and wonder, I can recall three other events that stand out vividly in my memory so clearly, it is like they have forever more been etched in my head, this time not for joyful reasons. They are the death of Princess Diana, the Twin Towers attacks and the Tsunami. They made such an impact on me, and so many, they will never be forgotten.

Years ago, on the first Good Friday, that sense of disbelief, shock, horror and sorrow must have been immense, unimaginable, to those who had walked with Jesus on the earth, seen him performing miracles and believed his claims that he was the Son of God. Their Saviour had come….. but now was nailed to a cross, the life-blood flowed out of him.

But on the third day – Sunday – what had devastated and saddened so many two days earlier, now turned to relief, joy and happiness as the most miraculous event, that would change the course of history and millions of lives for evermore, had happened – Christ had risen from the dead! Hallelujah!!

From that pivotal moment onwards, and very much today, Jesus lives on in the hearts of those who love and follow him, those who now know that his death on that cross wasn’t the heart-breaking thing that it first appeared, but was in fact a miracle. Jesus had been resurrected from death to life, and his sacrificial act would reconcile people to God through the forgiveness of sins.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [John 3:16]

On Easter Sunday we remember Christ’s sacrifice of love, and celebrate that he is alive today!!

CHRIST IS RISEN – HALLELUJAH!!

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