Dear Friends

“Christ is Risen Alleluia!…”

Happy Easter!

I want to share the Easter Greeting with you all, and to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the prayers, love and practical support you have given us over the last six months or so.

Eastertide brings us to the very core of the Gospel message. It is in St. John chapter 21 that Mary Magdalene runs to the garden and looks into the empty tomb to discover that Jesus is not there, He is risen. Shell shocked and stunned she is addressed by two angels, and one whom she thought was the gardener. Suddenly her “eyes are opened” and she sees the risen Christ. She replies: “Rabboni” or “Teacher”.

In first century Palestine, and in Eastern traditions today, Rabboni or teacher is not a person who gives lessons. The term is used to describe one who has “made the journey”, whose experience counts, one who knows the way. One whose shadow trains us, and whose disciple we become.

I have to confess to some considerable anxiety as a student teacher walking along the sands on the Isle of Wight with a group of children on a camp. After a short while it became apparent that the leader did not know the way back to the camp and with teenagers and young children in our charge and tea time approaching I could feel the stress. We all enjoyed a happy tea time a little later than usual and no harm was done.

There is something very reassuring about someone who has been there, who knows the way and has made the journey.

Perhaps you have been ill or suffered bereavement. Those who help you most have been there too.

I hope that this Eastertide you will join with the Christian community worldwide in saying: “Rabboni”. In saying this we honour the only One who has lived our life on earth, and lived life in heaven, and One who has made the journey through death to life eternal in order that we may all make it too. He has been there, and knows the way.

If ever the world needed the news of One who knows the Way of life it is now. Let us shout with joy “Christ is Risen, He is Risen indeed” now and forever.

Shalom

Roy

Rev. Roy Boffey.

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