Minister's Letter

Already halfway through Lent, Easter will soon be upon us once again. Time marches on so quickly that Holy Week can be a bit of a blur when we reach it. Easter is that wonderful time of the year when we can remember the sacrifice of Jesus for each of us and celebrate our risen Saviour all on the same weekend!

A few years back, I was told by one of my previous ministers that his church used to hold an Easter egg hunt in the service for the children.

Before the service and people arrived, some Sunday school teachers hid foil-wrapped chocolate eggs around the church. When it came to the part of the service where the children took part in the hunt, there was much fun and laughter as the eggs were found one by one. The service then continued.

Some 3 years or so later, the church had a spring clean, and they used a scaffold to reach the higher parts of the church to dust, etc. Upon looking down at the church, He noticed, quite high up, something shiny on top of one of the pillars, and you’ve guessed it, it was an Easter egg never found from the Easter egg hunt all those years before. Strangely though, nobody fancied eating it!!!

But this made me think.

How often have we been given the gift of Jesus at Easter and never unwrapped Him?

How many Easter services have we attended and never tasted His glorious riches for each of us because we’ve never unwrapped Him or maybe never even found Him?

So, what is this gift?

‘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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’ [John 3:16-17 NIV]

The gift, then, is eternal life!

And unlike Easter eggs, the gift of Jesus never goes out of date or perishes; the gift of Jesus lasts forever.

May each one of us unwrap Jesus this Easter and fully experience His love and grace.

Easter blessings,

Marcia

Minister - Revd. Marcia Tull - marcia.tull@methodist.org.uk