Cornerstone No. 191, page 2
Notes from the Manse
Dear Friends,
Very soon we will be in the midst of Easter. In faith terms
this is the high point of the Christian experience.
What great joy there is in the discovery that for all the
challenges and struggles which confront us and for the
times when we walk in darkness, a new dawn beckons
and a new day invites us to live! We believe that those
who seek will find that there is a light for our path and a
guide to our steps. Our expression of this truth is shaped
by the traditional Easter greeting:
and our response,
“Recovery” and “Response” are two words which come
to my mind as I look back over the year since last
Easter. These are key words to consider when thinking
about the future of God’s people, the church. It’s true,
no one can change history. Whether we report good or
bad in our life to date, it is done! Though we might long
for things to be different,
, in the sense of
restoring things to the way they were, is impossible.
What we can do though, and this demands our attention, is to make our
as good a response as we are able.
For the women visiting the tomb early in the morning there was a surprising
encounter and a new role for them in carrying news of Christ to the other
disciples. From those moments of difficult
uncertainty and sadness, God has worked with
grace: to heal the broken hearted; strengthen the
faint hearted and with a continuing, constant love; to
change the hard hearted.
Such is the essence of the Easter message.
and our response,
and so we look to the future God has
already prepared for us.
Joyful blessings,
Ian