Today, we are invited to find the Yes, the Celebration, the Life - even in the midst of a lockdown that does strange things to our sense of time. Every day can seem the same, the future stretching out formless ahead, but we can still lift our eyes….
The Baptism of Jesus by Mike Moyers
Does every day seem the same? Even days of worship - Sundays, for Christians - blend into the week. If services are available, they are online and so can be accessed any time, any day.
Lent morphed into a Lockdown and it’s easy to forget Easter happened……
It’s not that Christians believe any less in Jesus being raised from the dead. But not physically joining others to celebrate that makes us feel stuck. We say that every day is an Easter day…. but lockdown is like fasting. We have given up things, usually not by choice. It feels like a retreat, making us stay put, often isolated. No embrace; no convivial celebrations; most things low key; every day the same.
Can we find something to celebrate in today’s reading from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the new church in Rome? Read it now, if you can.
Reflect
This letter tackles a social - pastoral - issue that is risky for the Christians in Rome. Some people are saying, ‘God always forgives us, so the more we sin the more we will be forgiven, and God will be praised!’
But Paul points out that, in becoming Christians, his readers entered a new landscape. This was symoblised by their baptism, through which they buried old ways and values. They waded through the River Jordan and arrived on the opposite bank: a new country, a new life.
The relationship with Jesus Christ, who died and was raised, means they begin again with a new perspective, in an Easter land.
As we come out of lockdown, people speak about ‘a new kind of normal’. What will that look like? This letter to the Roman Christians reminds us that:
“Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
Take a moment now and:
list things that make up your daily experience in lockdown, for which you want to give thanks
consider what have you learned in lockdown that you don’t want to lose
consider what you need to pray or ask for, so that grace really can ‘abound’?
A Prayer
Living God,
we praise you for raising Jesus to life
and giving us hope in your future.
As we look forward with uncertainty to a ‘new normal’,
give us wisdom to make right choices about risk.
Above all, strengthen our trust in you
that we might know the love you have shown us in Jesus Christ
and learn to live in that love
a life of celebration and service,
of faith, hope and love.
In his name we pray,
Amen.