Xristos Voskrese!

The Communist speaker paused for breath, before delivering his final conclusion.  “Citizens!  Hear me!  God is make believe, the Church is a lie, and  Jesus was just a man, who died 2000 years ago”. 

A very old and frail Russian priest then raised his hand, and asked if he could say just two words. “Well” the speaker thought, “what harm can this old fool do with two words?” 

So the elderly priest struggled to the stage, to speak his two words.  He looked up over the crowd and, with a mischievous smile, shouted:  “Xristos Voskrese!” (Christ is Risen!)  Back came the roar of the crowd “Vaistinu Voskrese!”  (He is risen indeed!).

With those two little words, the Russian people had been declaring their Easter faith in the risen Jesus.   Clever words were no match for that deep trust and that life-giving faith.

Unlike those Russians under communism, we haven’t been persecuted for our faith.   If you’ve seen any of the old films about the Church, you’d have seen Christians being thrown to the Lions by the Roman Governors and Emperors.  In the early days of the Church Christians worshipped secretly in the catacombs -  the graves and tombs of the ancient cities.  They would hide out there, and meet there to avoid arrest and death.

 Can you imagine that?  Can you imagine people hating us for being Christians? 

What made those early Christians, and those Russian Chistians put up with all of that? 

There’s only one thing I know that makes people that brave, and that’s Love.  You’ll do anything for someone who Loves you.  You’ll bear anything for the one who loves you through and through. 

In the risen Jesus, those Christians met someone who Loved them with a power stronger than death.  They met someone who said, “See the nail marks in my hands and my side and my feet.  I died, and I rise again to live with you”. 

Our fellow Christians simply could not give up on Jesus, the One who Loved this much.

The biggest obstacle in our Christians lives is not persecution, it’s doubt, it’s a lack of faith.  We don’t really believe that the gospel, the good news of Jesus, is for us.  We find it almost impossible to believe that we are personally included in the saving power of Jesus’ death and resurrection.   We don’t really have faith that we could be loved that much. 

The hardest part of the Christian faith is therefore the easiest part.  It’s believing that you are loved.  The Risen Christ says to us: “how can you doubt me, look at my hands and my feet and my side, it was for you.”  In this season of Easter, God wants you to know that the good news, the gospel, is for us, for you personally, for all.     What the Risen Christ says to the disciples, he says to each one of us.  Doubt no longer, believe!

Xpistos Voskrese!  Vaistinu Voskrese!

Fr. Jesse

Fairtrade Fortnight

I love the fact that you can buy fair-trade chocolate, tea, coffee, bananas and sugar everywhere nowadays.

In the early days, it was much harder.  For years, the Church carried the Fairtrade movement on its back, selling fair-trade goods at the end of services.   Back then, Sheri and I were fair-trade-traders, which meant that we had to spend up front a lot of our own money to buy box loads of tea, coffee and fair-trade chocolate which we’d then sell on to Church members.   As you can imagine, we lost a lot of money that way.   Several box loads of fair-trade chocolate just lying around in your house are very hard to resist.  We often ended up eating more than we sold.   

But all that’s changed now.   It’s a victory that Churches are no longer the places to buy Fairtrade goods.    You can buy them everywhere (our local Aldi’s is having an amazing sale of FT produce – have a look).   We always wanted people to create a demand in local shops and supermarkets for fairly traded products.  In this way we could prove that many in our country want to be sure that third world farmers and growers got a fair deal from their own trade.   

Keep supporting Fairtrade goods, as often as you can.    It’s a very simple way to show that you are a Christian in what you eat, drink and buy.    Change the world through drinking tea and coffee, and eating plenty of chocolate.  You can do it!  Justice never tasted better.

Many in the Fairtrade movement were worried that, due to the recession, their would be a drop in sales for fairly traded goods.    Let’s do all we can to allay those fears.  We know that our recessions would be a dream come true for millions of God’s children.   The small extra cost for Cafedirect tea or Percol coffee (both Fairtrade companies) is a small price to pay for showing that we believe in God’s kingdom.

Fr. Jesse