'Outlook' Newsletter for April 2007

As Easter approaches, the cross of Jesus stands large before us. What happened on the cross that first Good Friday was so huge, so significant, that the words of thousands of theologians still fail to do it full justice. What is certain though is that Jesus as he prepared to breathe his last was able to utter those powerful words: ‘It is done,’ and the way to God was opened up for all who will turn and follow him.

Jesus death does all that is needed for human beings to be reconciled to God. What we have to do is simply to accept the gift he offers and enter into the full, abundant, eternal life he offers.

I recently read about an event which happens every year when thousands of people climb a mountain in the Italian Alps, passing the stations of the cross; carvings which portray Jesus’ journey to the cross. They finally stop to stand at a huge outdoor crucifix. One tourist noticed a little trail that went beyond the cross. He fought through a rough thicket and to his surprise came upon another shrine. A badly neglected shrine which symbolised the empty tomb. Almost everyone had gone as far as the cross, but there they had stopped.

Maybe we can be like that too. We think we understand the cross but fail to get as far as the message of Easter Sunday: the Resurrection. We fail to see or live out the implications of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Some tend to get to Easter Sunday and think. ‘Good, a happy ending. That’s nice after such a bad week for Jesus.’

But that’s not what Easter is about at all. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is actually a beginning; for Jesus, for the disciples, for you, for me and for all creation. It’s the resurrection which is the key to eternal life.

And resurrection doesn’t mean resuscitation of Jesus’ body; it means far more than that. It means Jesus going right through death and then out the other side. Out the other side into a new life which is somehow continuous with the old life, but which is also somehow new, richer, fuller: Somehow more real. When Jesus rose again, God’s new creation began in earnest, the Kingdom of God appeared on earth as in heaven. The way to God is open and human lives and the whole world begin to be transformed.

That’s what happens to us when we become Christians, we become part of something new, something so big it’s impossible to fully comprehend. It’s true that Jesus has opened heaven’s gates for us and that beyond our present life is eternal life with God. But Easter isn’t essentially teaching that there’s an escape hatch from the world. It’s much better news than that!!!

We have freedom to live anew life, a life without fear of death. One day we will all be raised with Christ into a new creation where pain, suffering, tears and death will be only distant memories.

But the risen Lord is also Lord of our lives right now. He calls us to live new lives with him as we slowly become more like him; more like what human beings can and should be. The future hope can be experienced now. Our task is to live out this new life and we can do that by making Easter a new beginning for us too.

Easter was in the early church a time for baptism of new believers. Some churches today take the opportunity at Easter to encourage people to re-affirm their baptismal promises. No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done there’s always a chance to repent; to turn around and commit to God and his purposes anew. The resurrection brings us the power and freedom to really live in the here and now: To live life in all its fullness, as Jesus repeatedly called it.

So Easter isn’t about escape from the world. It’s about freedom from everything which controls us; it’s about being reconciled to God forever and living life to the full with Him. None of the four gospels end their accounts of Easter with a sense of ‘Well, that’s alright then; the story’s over. We can breathe a sigh of relief.’ Each of them, in their own ways tell us there’s a job to be done. Jesus story continues in a new way. And there’s a whole world out there. With the help of God’s Spirit we’re called to be new people; new creations for the sake of God’s new world.

What Easter challenges us all to do is to remember the huge significance of what God has done for us and for the world in the new start that the resurrection brings. It calls and challenges us to be partners with God in his new creation; bringing the life of the world to come, the Kingdom come fully; the time of no pain or tears, the time of peace and reconciliation, into the world right now.

Easter then, is not a time for sitting back and feeling comfortable but a time of joy, of the outpouring of love, the time of new creation, of new life and the start of all God’s purposes beginning to come to pass. So, this Easter may we know the love, the joy and the power of the risen Christ in our lives.

We are Easter people, new creation people. Our Lent course this year has encouraged us to step out of the boat and dare to walk on the water. We have such good news to share. May God fill us with his resurrection power to do just that.

With love in Christ

Nick

Monday 2nd April Annual Church meeting, 7.30 p.m. in the church

Thursday 5th April Maundy Thursday Communion 7.30 p.m. in church

Good Friday 6th April 2 p.m. An hour at the foot of the cross 7.30 p.m. Together at the cross

Easter Sunday 8th April 10.15 a.m. Family Communion

Wednesday 18th April Prayer meeting, 8 p.m. in the narthex

Monday 23rd April PCC meets, 7.15 p.m. in the Reid Room

Wednesday 25th April Home groups meet

Friday 27th April Lydia group meets, 2 p.m. in the Supper Room

Wednesday 9th May Home groups meet

Wednesday 23rd May Home groups meet

Friday 25th May Lydia group meets, 2 p.m. in the Supper Room

Offerings

Offerings in January £14,551

Restricted (for specific purposes) £167

In the absence of the vicar, the PCC was chaired by John Downs. The chairman thanked the retiring members of the PCC: Graham Anderson, Geoff Barwick, Tina Burgess, Ray Durant, Val Hill, Gillian Moore, Anne Salter, and Mary Anderson.

The PCC discussed arrangements for the annual parochial meeting on 2^nd April. The final accounts for 2006 were received and the PCC warmly thanked the retiring treasurer, Stuart Gunn. The PCC heard about the proposed mission in Middlesbrough with J. John next year and agreed to support it.  There was further discussion of the charitable disbursements.

Services at St. Barnabas Easter 2007

7.30 p.m. Holy Communion

2 p.m. An hour at the foot of the cross

7.30 p.m. Together at the cross - United service with other Linthorpe churches

8 a.m. Holy Communion

10.15 a.m. Family Communion

4.30 p.m. Evening Prayer

6.30 p.m. Easter Praise

The last letter from Moab

It was just over two years ago that we started to write these monthly letters to you as scattered readers across the face of England from St. Austell to Middlesbrough – and this will most likely be the last one that we write. Appropriately, it will come to you around the very time that we shall be celebrating Easter by gathering on the most famous mountain of all in the land of Moab – Mount Nebo. Easter is of course the moment of resurrection, when new life beckons by the gracious hand of the risen Lord, and it is a moment of great significance in this part of the world, where the hope of new life can sometimes ebb away until it seems almost impossible that we should get away from the endless round of impotent talk and ruthless inhumanity, that has gripped the peoples all around us for far too long. It was from Mount Nebo, of course, where tradition says Moses glimpsed a view of what God had promised to his people before he was taken from them (Deuteronomy chapter 34), and this will be true for at least three of us there at that service at dawn on Easter Day. For Bishop Riah, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem for the last ten years (whom many of you will have met on one of his many visits to Britain to express his passion for the Palestinian people) will have just retired and thus discovering what lies ahead for him. We too shall be saying farewell to what has become a very familiar landscape over the last 6 years. For in June, we shall be leaving here and returning to England, ready to discover what lies ahead for us.

So, we want to take the opportunity of thanking you all for your interest, your prayers for the Middle East, and for your financial support which has enabled us to remain here through your partnership with CMS. We would also like to thank all the magazine editors, parish secretaries and newsletter compliers who have month by month endeavoured to include our brief notes in their productions. And finally, we look forward to meeting many of you when we make our visits to all those parishes we mentioned above – a journey that begins in June when we visit Holy Trinity, Windsor, and concludes in December when we come to St. Peter’s Burnham.

Malcolm and Veronica

Working in partnership with CMS and the Diocese of Jerusalem in Amman, Jordan

PS We hear that the container ship carrying some of our belongings (see the last Letter from Moab) has safely docked in England!

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven... Ecclesiastes 3:1

This academic year so far has brought continuing opportunities in schools outreach, not least through the Emmaus Road Show stationed recently at Linthorpe Primary School. Through the course of the week, nearly 500 primary age pupils from various schools enjoyed exploring the Bible for themselves in tangible ways! The Road Show moves on to Gateshead this week and we trust God to continue to sow seeds in young people’s lives as they encounter Jesus’ life. Ashley and I are pleased to be leading a series of lessons in Kings Manor School on ‘ The Person of Jesus Christ’ over the coming weeks too. Please pray that pupils will be receptive to what they hear and want to know more of Christ! We enjoy giving regular input to so many schools (5 extra –curricular groups a week alongside lessons and assemblies) and thank God for the other Christian workers in the town, able to serve even more schools.

There have been so many wonderful encouragements in the development of schools ministry that it is with both sadness and anticipation that I will move on from schools work in Middlesbrough this summer. I have recently accepted the post of Lay Chaplain to St Hilda’s Church of England School and Youth Worker within the Hartlepool Deanery. God has taught me so much in these past few years that I am eager to share in my new role. I can only trust in God to continue the good work He has brought about here in Middlesbrough, as He wills. Please do pray for God’s direction in how schools ministry is to be shaped and developed in this area, particularly in decisions to be made in the coming months... we know He is faithful in all things and does bring every good work to completion!

At Love Work, Live Life!, an event organized by Care for the Family, you will hear David Oliver debunk the myth that God is only interested in full-time Christian service. You'll discover that the majority of people you read about in the Bible worked in 'ordinary jobs', day-in, day-out. With an authoritative grasp on what the Bible really says about work, David will help you realise your full potential, and transform your attitude to work and the lives of your family, work colleagues, and even your boss!

Love Work, Live Life is on Tuesday 24th April, at Stockton Baptist Tabernacle, 7.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets are £6 and available online at careforthefamily.org.uk/events or by telephone: 029 2081 0800.