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Affirmation and encouragement
April 1, 2007
Dear Friends,
One of the things that has struck me during Lent this year,
is the way that Jesus received affirmation and
encouragement from His Heavenly Father, such as at His
Baptism and Transfiguration. At those times the Father
affirmed Him as His Son, affirmed how much He loved Him and
called others to respond to Him. We too need to be reminded
of the truth that, we are sons and daughters of God and His
love is constantly upon us in Jesus. This has been a strong
feature of the Freedom in Christ Course and it is one that
we must not forget when that draws to a close. Unless we
feed our faith and affirm our identity in Christ we may
find our grip upon it loosens as we live in a world that
would easily lead us from Jesus.
That truth enables us to see the world around us through
God’s eyes. In one of his memorable comments, John Stott
said that “Christians are realists. They are not
pessimists, full of gloom. They are not utopian optimists
sure that humanity can build a better a world. We do see
the world as a desperately unhappy place. But if that is
all we see the whole message of the Christian gospel, has
failed to reach our hearts. The promise is that God does
reign. He will redeem and restore the heavens and the
earth. We can begin to sing a song of joy now. But we
cannot simply sing this song and turn our back on the
world. Instead this vision of stability, justice and joy
should move us to play our part in bringing this new world
about, beginning today.”
The message of life, victory, hope and joy is at the heart
of our Easter Celebrations of the Resurrection of Jesus. We
will sing again the songs of resurrection and they are an
invitation to others to come and meet not only a Risen Lord
but a Living Lord, who reigns in us today.
With warmest Christian Greetings
Kath Pawlett
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