Comment: Hope, love and joy in Harborough despite the pandemic

Hope, love and joy despite the pandemic

By Rev. Andy Murphy, Minister of the Methodist Churches of Market Harborough, Kibworth and Naseby.

Easter is traditionally a time of joy. A time when Christians tell of Jesus not only being crucified, but being gloriously risen from the dead.

We celebrate new life, death defeated, sins forgiven, hope and salvation for the world. We say “Alleluia!” and our Easter eggs remind us of an empty tomb.

This year, however, the feeling of many people might be: “So what?” What good is a faith in resurrection if the world is in lockdown? What relevance is talk of new life when the death-count rises daily? Where is hope, if you have just lost a loved one whose final days were spent in isolation? Maybe the Church has got it wrong. Maybe this annual celebration is just denying the cruel reality of life.

In fact, the message of Easter is no such thing. Jesus painfully endured the realities of life. The Gospel stories tell graphically of his suffering, humiliation, agony and death. He knew the mental torture of isolation, where his friends abandoned him and he even felt spiritually separated from God. He experienced the injustice of a brutal execution that was certainly not ‘what he deserved’. Christians believe that, in this way, God entered into our life truly and powerfully, sharing our suffering.

Although we do not have the answers for such suffering and injustice, we can find some strength knowing that God is there with us in each present moment. We are never alone.

But the resurrection on Easter Day gives us an added dimension, because it helps us to trust that the future is also held in God’s hands. When the Gospel-writers told of Jesus’ resurrection and empty tomb, they knew that all was not right with the world.

In Jerusalem on that first Easter, there was still much suffering and persecution (probably even more crucifixions). Yet, in the midst of their fear, Jesus entered the locked room of his disciples and offered them peace. Then they knew that life – all life – is held in the hands of one whose love is stronger and greater than suffering and death.

Throughout the centuries, Christians have been celebrating Easter through persecution, famine, plague, war and grief. Many will be suffering in fear, mourning or isolation all over the world today. We will weep with all who weep. We will experience suffering ourselves. We will pray for the world. But still we say “Alleluia!” because there must be hope.

I believe hope begins at that empty tomb. It begins with the love which would not let death have the final word. And it will lead to the ultimate joy. May hope, love and joy be with you, and alive in all of us today.

Rev. Andy Murphy is Minister of the Methodist Churches of Market Harborough, Kibworth and Naseby.

Details of spiritual resources available from all the town’s churches, including a link to a short Easter school assembly video produced by Andy Murphy, can be found at https://www.harboroughchurches.org.uk/news/2020/resources-and-services-for-easter-and-beyond.html