Easter Sunday
Following from last week’s blog, we are thinking of What Kind of Man Jesus Christ is. Easter day is a time for celebration when we exclaim:
Christ the Lord is risen today! Hallelujah!
What kind of Man was able to suffer the agonies of Good Friday, when he was brutally tortured, beaten, spat up, flayed and then died a cruel death on a cross, yet on the third day he had broken the bonds of death and was alive? “He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24: 6
Incredible as this may seem – that is what we celebrate on Easter day.
I have summed up the last few days with a meditation called Salvation:
The story of the cross
Is a story of Your love.
Love that was tested, tormented, tortured
Love that was betrayed, battered, bruised
Love that stayed the course
Until all life had gone from your body.
Your body, broken for me.
Your blood, shed for me.
All life gone.
A life full of energy, empathy, enigma.
A life that had saved others,
Healed the damaged & fed the hungry.
Taught, trained, travelled,
in control of creation.
You celebrated life & welcomed all.
A life snuffed out in its prime
A body now lifeless, limp, lost.
The weight of sin laid on you.
Crushing, cursing, crucifying.
You did this for me.
You didn’t deserve this.
It leaves me ashamed,
That I have contributed to this pain.
But that wasn’t the end!
Power, purity, payment,
You live again!
Alive, accepting, amazing,
You forgive me.
I come before you
Even though I am not worthy.
I need to be cleansed.
Pride, possessiveness, prejudice,
The things that get in the way.
Anger, ambition, avarice.
I can’t do it alone.
Forgive me when I fail,
And I fail so often, so frequently, so miserably.
Forgive me.
I need you Lord Jesus
To take control,
to lead, love, liberate.
To guide and strengthen me.
Let me live in you
As you live in me.
Grace, goodness, gentleness,
Leading me to do your will,
Spirit filled, cleansed, healed. Sue Aspden
Following from last week’s blog, we are thinking of What Kind of Man Jesus Christ is. Easter day is a time for celebration when we exclaim:
Christ the Lord is risen today! Hallelujah!
What kind of Man was able to suffer the agonies of Good Friday, when he was brutally tortured, beaten, spat up, flayed and then died a cruel death on a cross, yet on the third day he had broken the bonds of death and was alive? “He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24: 6
Incredible as this may seem – that is what we celebrate on Easter day.
I have summed up the last few days with a meditation called Salvation:
The story of the cross
Is a story of Your love.
Love that was tested, tormented, tortured
Love that was betrayed, battered, bruised
Love that stayed the course
Until all life had gone from your body.
Your body, broken for me.
Your blood, shed for me.
All life gone.
A life full of energy, empathy, enigma.
A life that had saved others,
Healed the damaged & fed the hungry.
Taught, trained, travelled,
in control of creation.
You celebrated life & welcomed all.
A life snuffed out in its prime
A body now lifeless, limp, lost.
The weight of sin laid on you.
Crushing, cursing, crucifying.
You did this for me.
You didn’t deserve this.
It leaves me ashamed,
That I have contributed to this pain.
But that wasn’t the end!
Power, purity, payment,
You live again!
Alive, accepting, amazing,
You forgive me.
I come before you
Even though I am not worthy.
I need to be cleansed.
Pride, possessiveness, prejudice,
The things that get in the way.
Anger, ambition, avarice.
I can’t do it alone.
Forgive me when I fail,
And I fail so often, so frequently, so miserably.
Forgive me.
I need you Lord Jesus
To take control,
to lead, love, liberate.
To guide and strengthen me.
Let me live in you
As you live in me.
Grace, goodness, gentleness,
Leading me to do your will,
Spirit filled, cleansed, healed. Sue Aspden