C19 Letter – 19th April

Pastoral Letter from The Ministers and Stewards of the Circuit

Sunday after Easter

Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Whatever befalls the earth, we live in the days of the risen Christ. Marking Holy Week and Easter each year is part of our discipleship to remember Jesus and all God has done through him. It is part of the pattern of the Church Year. Of course, we often find it hard to live in the knowledge that everyday since that first Sunday morning is lived and will be lived in the risen life of Christ. So, although we particularly remember and mark it on Easter Day, we live each day in his risen life.

In the scriptures one of the most enlightening images of the church is given to us by Paul, the body of Christ. Specifically, 'we' are the body of Christ. His risen body alive on the earth renewed in each generation to worship and serve him in the world or our day. There is no doubt that the world will not be the same in the time following this present health crisis. Lots of things will be different and that will be true in our churches as much as in other walks of life. We are learning anew what it is to be 'the Body of Christ'.

We have no buildings and our faith has been re-planted in our homes. We prepare worship from our homes and we share it together but apart in our homes. This isn't easy for some and yet, for many, there is gift being unwrapped as week by week we strive to keep our worship life alive. In doing so we are discovering that God wants to give us new insights, new opportunities and new signs of his grace. We are being set free from our dependence on our buildings and invited, no forced, to embrace new ways of being church, ways that will, I am sure, set deep within us a new understanding of what it means to be the Body of Christ.

TV & radio opportunities for worship:
Radio 4, Sunday Worship, Sunday 8:10am,
Radio 4 Long Wave, Daily Service, 9.45am Monday-Friday,
Radio 3, Choral Evensong, Sunday 3pm
BBC1, Sunday Worship, Sunday 10.45am,
BBC 1, Songs of Praise, Sunday 1:15pm