| This Easter I read two articles that had a fresh impact for me. In one the writer was commissioned to find photos to use in the Powerpoint presentation for an Easter sermon. She looked through a number of the traditional paintings, but in the end found herself drawn to a photo taken by an unknown photographer in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "a fuzzy snapshot of a man with a pointed black hood, balancing on a box in a black cape. Wires attach to his extended palms and he has reportedly been told he will be electrocuted if he falls off the box".
She goes on "Does Jesus’ crucifixion speak to what happened at Abu Ghraib? ... I turned to Mark 14 and 15. Previously, I’d read Jesus’ trial before the high priest (Mark 14.53-65) as an argument between annoying relatives engaged in doctrinal hairsplitting. This time their debate emerged as a sinister interrogation, manipulative and cruel. The randomness of Pilate’s justice chilled me; the blindfold in Mark 14.65 was a blow to the solar plexus, and Jesus’ lack of control over his clothing made my teeth chatter. The beatings, the slapping, the jeering were no longer contained in a tidy three-day package with a happy ending. They sprawled over 2000 years.
"It seems that God is well acquainted with places like Abu Ghraib. ...may the suffering that Christ endured while on trial as a “terrorist” fill us with compassion. Let us remember those who still suffer violence and torture. Let the rage we feel against hatred and cruelty be refined into acts of mercy and courageous defiance." Read the article here
The other article was the Easter sermon of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. He looks at ways of responding to the question "How do you know the Christian faith is true?" One is to argue it purely as an issue of faith and personal opinion. Another is to go through all the philosophical arguements. Rowan Williams says that while both of these are valid and necessary, there is a third dimension which is even more crucial - "The resurrection has to be lived". It must start in our own lives, impacting the way we live and work, not just as an article of belief or philosophy.
"St Paul ... makes it clear that to speak of Jesus' resurrection is also to say something crucial about who and where we are, not just to make a claim about the past.. Now we should not doubt for a moment that Paul means what he says and that he takes for granted that the resurrection of Jesus is not a piece of fantasy or wishful thinking but the actual emptying of a grave. However, the point of Paul's entire teaching on the resurrection is to take us much further than that. This event, the emptying of the grave, has done something and has brought the Christians of Colossae – like all Christians – into a new universe. They are living in a new climate, with new 'thoughts' – a climate in which the various ways in which we've put up barriers between ourselves and God have been shattered and our old selves are dead. We may still go on trying to put those barriers back up again, but something has happened that opens up a new kind of future. Our selfish and destructive acts and reactions can be dealt with, overwhelmed again and again by the love shown in the cross of Jesus. Because of Jesus' death and rising from the dead, our resurrection has started, and our citizenship in heaven has begun. There is a hidden seed of glory within us, gradually coming to its fullness." Read the full sermon here
There has been a mixed reaction to the G20 meetings earlier this month, with a widespread response that too much of it was ‘business as usual’, and not enough of an attempt to take this opportunity to re-think the way that we work.
Andy Clasper, Director of Micah Challenge UK says “Let us keep praying, let us keep speaking out, and let us keep demonstrating a different way of life. Our good news has never been so relevant. If the world really is seeking a set of values to guide it, what better set of values than those of its creator?”
What is God's Plan for the World, and Why Should We Care?
Don Richardson, author of Peace Child, is a missionary statesman and internationally renown author and speaker. With his family he ministered among the Sawi people of Irian Jaya, resulting in that tribe's transformation for Christ. Come and hear Don Richardson at this Missions Interlink sponsored event.
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Micah Challenge USA originally posted this as a prayer for Lent. It is a prayer that picks up the Micah Challenge themes of Justice, Mercy and Humility. Use it in worship services with the lines in bold as congregational responses.
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Paul Thompson
National Coordinator
Micah Challenge Aotearoa New Zealand
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