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Easter at Peel – a report

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It's Friday but Sunday's coming!

Walking into chapel on Good Friday, there was a real sense that it was a day of
sorrow and solemnity – an image of a sacrificial lamb was ahead of us, and
hanging in front of the cross, from floor to ceiling, was a cloth painting of Jesus
wearing the crown of thorns. Lit by one solitary candle, the altar area was covered
in red fabric, symbolic of the blood that Jesus shed for you and me.

As we listened to the monologues of what characters in the Easter story might
have thought and said, it brought a freshness to the familiar story and I couldn't fail
to be moved to tears. As I listened to what Barabbas said,I was struck by just how
much we are loved by God, in spite of all our wrongdoing. Here was Jesus,
suffering all I deserve, His death buying me freedom and life. If we don't
acknowledge the sorrow of Good Friday as Jesus died on the cross, how can we
truly celebrate the joy and hope of resurrection and the empty tomb on Easter
Day?

On Sunday morning as the alarm went off, I wondered how many would turn up to
our first sunrise service on the beach, how many would come and celebrate the
resurrection with us? Watching people make their way along the promenade as
6.30am approached, my heart was full- Jo ducked down behind the communion
table to fill up more cups and get out more bread ( a nice problem to deal with!), as
people took chairs on to the sand, and sat on the steps to hear the good news of
Jesus once again. It was lovely to share the service with people from the Cathedral
as we sang and listened again to the story of that first Easter Day. We have a risen
Saviour who loves each of us so much that He was willing to die so that we might
really live! As we sang our final hymn, it was as if God Himself was smiling on us
as the sun came into view from behind the headland. I can really sing:-

The greatest day in history, death is beaten
You have rescued me
Sing it out, Jesus is alive
The empty cross, the empty grave
Life eternal, You have won the day
Shout it all, Jesus is alive
He's alive and...
Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same,
Forever I am changed. ( 'Happy Day' by Jesus Culture)

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District Administrator
Charlton Krentz

01624 625408
administrator@methodist.org.im

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