Easters past, present at for the future!

Before I was ordained in 1990, I had great problems with feet.  Not that my feet were causing me concern, nor did I not appreciate the value of all they did for me in getting me around – I just didn’t like looking at naked feet.   Whether it be my own feet, or other people’s feet - for me feet were and are a big turnoff.

So you can imagine my horror when, at my first Maundy Thursday service as an ordained person, my Rector, David James, insisted I got involved with the ancient foot washing ceremony of the day.  Every year since then I have been involved in the annual foot washing ceremony washing small feat, big feet, old feet, young feet, clean feet, other feet I was not quite so sure of. 

One thing that I have always held dear to my Christian faith is that of not being judgemental, and that most certainly applies to people’s feet.

And then there was worse, just as I thought the ceremony was over David said to me get you shoes and socks off now it’s your turn. Other people touching my feet – never!   In any case my feet are far too sensitive and they tickle oh so easily. But that was not to be, down I sat, she was off, socks off, and then my feet washed by someone else.

And over those years God has been wonderfully selective in who he has chosen to wash my feet – often people I have had difficulties with.

Over the years I have not grown to like feet any better, but I have come to appreciate the privilege of seeing this act as a symbol of service, as a Christian, as a Deacon and as a Priest, reminding us as it does of Jesus demonstrating to his disciples (and to us) his ministry as One who has come to serve!

The Maundy Thursday foot washing would be followed with a period of prayer and a vigil. Indeed join my curacy years at Wollaton, the vigil went on all night. The night was divided into hours, one hour would be time for quiet private prayer, reading, and reflection, and the next hour for some corporate activity. I remember that we read Beckett one year and other years we have some music to appreciate – I remember doing a session on First World War Poetry.  This commitment seems to have dwindled over the years and an over the last few years after the foot washing no one at all has stopped behind in church.

Good Friday has seen me involved in a variety of activities – from being involved with, and a couple of years leading, the three hour service from noon until 3 o’clock in the afternoon. I have been on a variety of walks – in Rainworth and Blidworth we used to walk from Rainworth Church to St Andrews Mission Hall and then on to St Mary’s Church; and at each place would be some act of worship and some food. I was so pleased to see that Churches Together in Rainworth and Blidworth now do something very similar, but including more of the churches.

During my time at Ollerton and Boughton, Churches Together have organised a “Walk of Witness” from the Methodist Church via the street corner outside the Co-op, and St Paulinus’ Church, and Lifespring Pentecostal Church.   I have thoroughly enjoyed these and feel they have been wonderful acts of witness – and that is something I don’t think I would have said before moving to Ollerton!  The proceedings would end up with Coffee and hot cross buns either at Lifespring or our church.

In the evening we would have a more reflective service – Tenebrae (a moving service of candles being extinguished), or some other reflective style of worship.  Apart from the walk of witness in Ollerton, I feel Good Friday numbers have really dwindled, and we all seem to have got caught up in the way of the world.  I had hoped to watch something suitable for Good Friday on television yesterday, but there was nothing at all on, and I ended up watching Hattie Jacques in “Carry on Matron” and fell asleep!  (I love the Carry On films)

For me over the years, Saturday the day before Easter, was always a day of getting ready for the big day on Sunday. But there were always people who insisted on having the Easter Eve service in the evening, with the bringing in of the new light - the light of Christ.  From a very large numbers, these have dwindled right off and last year there were only four or five of us on a bitterly cold April evening.

 

The season of Easter today has always been a day of great joy and celebration.   We find it so much easier to celebrate, and it is right and proper we do so when we have carefully followed our Lord step by step through Holy Week.

I find myself often asking the question (more often in recent times) as to what it would have been like to have been there - standing at the foot of the Cross, walking in the garden early on that first Easter Day.  How would I have reacted?  What would I have said?  What would I have done next would I have run away?  Can I believe what I am seeing? 

 

Surprisingly, at least in my eyes, all this makes so much more sense as I continue to grapple with cancer.  It's the only conclusion I can come with as I look back on all God has done for me, and for others. Jesus' death and resurrection was for me, and for you, to make sense of our earthly lives, and to make then "other worldly". 

 

For me, my continual call to priesthood over many years, even through one "failed" selection conference; my journey from the cosy comfy world of Banking (well it was then!) to the challenging and exciting world of being a priest; and as I sought through prayer to see what God had in store for me next.

So where is all this leading to?

True to my title I have rambled on about Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter, but what are we to make of it all.

One of my sons unfortunately can’t get to grips with the religious aspect of Easter – and I do empathise with him, everso slightly.

So often we try to compartmentalise our lives and our experiences. For example many will be going to a football match this afternoon – I know of at least one bishop who will!  Is that wrong? Is that unholy?  No of course it’s not.

Others will have gone away for a few days – holiday with friends and loved ones, fun, recreation –re-creation in God’s image?  Is that wrong - no of course not.

Rather we should take the totality of our experiences, those we call “holy” and those we label “secular” and put them all together.

Life is all about these “Good Fridays and Easter Days”.  Life out of death, light found in and through and beyond the darkness,  and in our human experiences the loss of youth, the loss of your credit card (I lost mine this week in the house – only for it to be found!) the loss of a friend/friendship or the loss of a loved one, estrangement from someone, loss of your health, the day your children leave home, the loss of your job, the loss of your independence – and so the list could go on.

Each of these examples are involved with the loss of something. Simply as we grow up we experience that loss through the natural process – loss of hair, loss of a slim waistline (for those who ever had one), loss of nimbleness….

But in each of these cases they are replaced – as that beautiful hymn “Amazing Grace” says ”Once I was lost but now I’m found”.

To lose something and to find/gain something – the sheer cycle of life.

Let’s not wallow in losing something, or not finding something - rather let’s celebrate - a celebration that Jesus rose from the dead for me, and for you, not in the “Holy Way” we so often try to find him in, but in the very depths of our being, in the very depths of our experiences of life.

Only once we have experienced that sense of loss, and darkness, and bleakness, will we be able to celebrate the sheer joy of finding what comes next!

Jesus Christ is risen – he is risen indeed – Alleluia!!!!!

Happy Easter!