Rector’s Letter

At this time, we complete our journey through Lent to Holy Week and beyond to Easter. Over the last few weeks at St Michael’s, we have walked a path that takes us through the shadows of Lent, into the quiet intimacy of the Upper Room, and finally to the foot of the Cross. During our journey in our services at St Michael’s, I have been reflecting on a theme that sits at the heart of our faith: the power of the witness. In the Gospels, we see a spectrum of people who encountered the risen Christ. Some, like the Marys in Matthew’s account, witnessed a spectacular scene of earthquakes and lightning. Others, in John’s Gospel, at first failed to recognize Jesus at all. This tells us something profound about how God works. He does not wait for us to have our lives perfectly “sorted” before he shows up. He enters into the complications, the grief, and the very real tensions of our human existence.

We see this clearly on Good Friday. As Jesus speaks those final words, “It is finished,” we are forced to sit in the tension of what that meant. For the Romans and those who reject him, “finished” was simply “over and done with”—another rebel silenced. But for us, it is much more “job done”—the ultimate act of righteousness, restoring our right relationship with God. The Cross is the place where our human attempts to run our own future come to an end, and our reliance on God begins. But the story doesn’t end in the tomb.

This Easter, we celebrate that the darkness could not hold the Light. Yet, for many of us, the risen Christ doesn’t always appear in a bolt of lightning. More often, he is found in a “gentle nudge” or a quiet push toward a neighbour in need. I see the evidence of the Resurrection every day here in Houghton-le-Spring. I see it in the members of Mothers Union who reach out in pastoral care for our community. I see it in our volunteers at Spece4 running our drop-in and community foodstore. I see it in the music brought to us by our choir that fills our historic walls. I see it in the children’s laughter from our Young Church on Sundays and in our weekly children’s activities. These aren’t just “good works”; they are testimony! I believe through such testimony we are all “secondary witnesses” to the Resurrection. When we reach out in love to the marginalized and the weary, we are proving that the story of Easter is still being written 2,000 years later. We do what we do because of our faith in the One who walked to the Cross in love for us and was raised on the third day.

As we enter this season of new life, my prayer for you is that you won’t feel the need to put a “sticky plaster” over the difficult parts of your life. Bring your unresolved questions and your very real burdens to the empty tomb. Trust that the God who was raised is the same God who walks with you through the busy streets of your daily life and the quiet moments of your prayers. May you find full life in His name this Easter and feel truly able to declare:

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

With my prayers and very best wishes.