20 March 2008
The really good news gospel - the Easter message from the Methodist President
Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, President of the Methodist
Conference, says;
"Donald English used to say that death and resurrection is not
simply what happened to Jesus but is the deep movement God implants
in all creation. The Christian God is a God of death and
resurrection.
"Like many I have been challenged by poignant examples of death -
its reality and hard consequences - and blessed by wonderful
examples of resurrection - and the hope and joy it brings.
"I will never forget a conversation with a Sierra Leonian man,
bearing the scars of the rebel war in the 1990's so powerfully
depicted in the recent film Blood Diamond. He thanked me fervently
for bringing the gospel to his land - he talked to me as if I was
one of those first Methodist missionaries to West Africa! He
explained with deep emotion how he had received Christ quite
recently, in the war years, and this coming to faith had enabled
him to begin to forgive those who mutilated him - and, as I learned
a little later, killed his wife. I was moved to tears. In all his
pain and lasting disability he knew that Jesus was alive, and there
was hope in his life. He knew in a deep way that the gospel of
Christ truly is good news.
"More recently, when in Uganda with MRDF, I met Christian folk who
have so little, who live with the reality and proximity of death
and suffering in a way I do not, yet who remind me more than most
of the life and hope of Christian faith. Death and resurrection
belong together.
"Or I think of some friends who have died in recent times. They
knew their prognosis. They lived with the stark consequences of
their impending death, for themselves and especially their loved
ones. And at just the time when hope might be most lacking in these
dear people and those who love them, they talk of the nearness of
Christ, the wonderful love and forgiveness of God, the comfort of
their faith, their trust in Jesus, the salvation he freely gave and
their hope of heaven. In the most traumatic situations of life, it
is often those going through them who embody and make clear that
the Christian gospel truly is good news.
"Death and resurrection is also evident in the life of our
churches. I was at Walworth Methodist Church some weeks ago. A
church with a venerable past, 'Clubland' had a great ministry among
local youths and others in that London neighbourhood. But there
came a time when almost all signs of life disappeared, and a long
three days of darkness ensued. But resurrection has come and new
life bursts out everywhere. Methodist Christians, young and old,
many (originally) from various parts of West Africa and beyond,
share life and worship that exudes the good news gospel.
"Our world lives with death and resurrection in many ways and in
many places. An 'average' news broadcast gives cause to both weep
and rejoice. In places of death and darkness we must continue to
weep with those who weep and 'look for the morning' as people of
resurrection faith and hope. With those who rejoice in life and
hope we must celebrate and point to God, the giver of it all.
"Our Easter faith is not death or resurrection, it is death and
resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is not a reversal of death.
It is much more than that. The risen Jesus is known by the scars of
crucifixion. He is the Living One Who Died. But now he is alive
forever. And, marvellously, he stands today with this needy world
in the reality of death and the promise of new life. This ministry
he shares with us, his Easter People Church, a people bearing the
marks of both death and new life. A people who know and live out
the profound truth that death and resurrection life both lie deep
in the purposes of God, in whom all things will be well.
Alleluia!"