A Blessed Easter

May the power of Easter come close to you and fill your whole being. The complete and utter expression of God's passionate love and purpose for humanity and the whole cosmos. It comes in, through and by death and resurrection. It is the key to meaning and the essence of your being.

Because of Easter, you have a hope and a future.

Because of Easter, faith is worthwhile.

It is God's gift to you, through Jesus Christ.

Discover a blessed Easter.

How do we die to self?

What is the biggest issue arising in the lives of Christians? It is pride. Wise words read this morning:

"How can I die to self? The death to self is not your work, it is God's work. In Christ you are dead to sin. The life there is in you has gone through the process of death and resurrection; you may be sure you are indeed dead to sin. But the full manifestation of the power of this death in your disposition and conduct depends upon the measure in which the Holy Spirit imparts the power of the death of Christ And here it is that the teaching is needed: if you would enter into full fellowship with Christ in His death, and know the full deliverance from self, humble yourself".

Andrew Murray, 'Humility: The Beauty of Holiness'

Authenticity

Is a demanding exercise. For it requires us to face the reality of who we are, in our dysfunctionality and pathologies. These are real. Sin, like weeds in the earth, quickly rises up in our lives. It is so easy for it to choke out the authentic, christlike movement of the Spirit into bringing us into conformity to Christ; and to  arrest and dampen our hunger and thirst to be more like Jesus.

An atheist friend today mentioned an 'atheist church' meeting. How can people imagine it is possible? Unless they have attended churches where there is but a charade of spirituality; an absence of seeking and meeting with the authentic presence of God.

Shetland

Just back from an inspiring visit among the four baptist churches in these islands, the most northerly extent of the UK. Where the nearest railway station is in Bergen, Norway! Yet quicker, house to house, in flying to there than taking the train to Aberdeen. A strange world we live in.

But as in Orkney, there is a stronger sense of community than in the Central Belt of Scotland. This is reflected in our baptist churches, where incomers - who comprise up to half the population - find a home and a family.

The pictures here are of the abundant wildlife; the traditional peat bricks stacked ready for burning; and a wonderful picture painted on an iphone during a service in Dunrossness, where I was preaching yesterday morning, by artist Paul Bloomer on the sermon theme, 'Uprootedness'.

Thank God for lively and vibrant baptist churches in the Northern Isles of Shetland.