Vicars Letter 17th April 2025 - Easter

Rev Guy Benton

 

Kia ora All Saints

Holy week is well and truly upon us as we arrive at Maundy Thursday (the day this letter is written). We often throw around the saying that you "can't get to Easter Sunday," the day we celebrate Jesus' resurrection, "without going through Good Friday," the day we mourn the death of Jesus. It's in this posture that I come to the beginning of the climax of the Easter story.

There is a very real truth that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are nothing without one very real truth, that we were separated from God by sin; as Romans 1 puts it, we knew God, we knew how good he is, yet we still denied him, we tried to do it on our own, we tried to use tradition, family, creating our own identity, acts of service, and much much more, it is the acknowledgment of this truth, that we were not worthy, we could not pay the price, we could not reconcile ourselves, it is through the act of Jesus dying on the cross and rising again that we can be set free from the power and corruption of sin on and in our lives and brought into unity and relationship with God; nothing else, nothing we can do, nothing we can conjure up, simply believing in the sacrificial act of another for you sets you free from all that keeps you separated from a relationship with Christ. There is no Good news without bad news.

So, as we approach the risen Jesus on Sunday, let us walk through why Jesus did all of that, why he went to the cross, and for many of you who are engaged in the Lent study, you will be well and truly joining the dots here. He lowered himself so that we might be lifted up, and he put himself in our place so that we can be set free, unshackled, made whole, and set apart.

When our friends and family ask us what we are doing this Easter, how will we respond? With the Good news? If so, what's Good news? it can't simply be that a man lived a nice, wholesome life, died, and somehow miraculously rose again. What for?

Let's walk to the road to the Easter Jesus who rose from the grave to set us free together so that we might see that Jesus set our friends and family free, too!

There are a few things happening over the weekend at All Saints.

Thursday 17th - Maundy Thursday
5:45 - Light Meal
7 pm Maundy Thursday Service

Friday 18th - Stations of the cross walk.
10 am Starting at All Saints walk to St Patrick's

Sunday 20th - Easter Sunday Gatherings
9 am - Traditional Eucharist
10:30 - Intergenerational Worship

We would love to see as many of you across the gatherings as we can, and please feel free to invite your friends and family; plenty of opportunities for your people to hear the Good News. Or, at the very least, have a stack of questions to ask afterward.

Much love to you all this Easter.