In his video message for Easter the Moderator, Rev. Simon Hansford, explores how the Gospel helps us make sense of the world around us and as he says, “We have a story to tell in the world around us that makes a difference to those who hunger and thirst for hope, life and possibility.”
We’ve been talking about a God who is present in the world. A God who is present and active for the world. A god who dies and then rises for the sake of the world. And we wondered what that looks like right now in the world around us? Right now as we speak there are conversations in our Parliament about safety and consent, and about women not being safe in the world and Aboriginal deaths in custody and what that means for us.
So we filmed this in the heart of the city to ask the question: Does the Gospel make sense for the world around us?
It’s critical to understand that the Gospel story, especially the Easter story — which sits at our heart — actually helps us make sense of the world around us. It’s not some story cloistered in the church, but that actually cuts through to people who suffer, struggle and are trying to make sense of their lives.
At the heart of the Gospel story is the promise of a God who is with us, not just beside us, but in struggle, in darkness, in injustice, in violence and in death. And then bringing us to life again. The story of a God who is for us in our struggle and for those who grieve. A God who is biased toward those who are broken, to give them life and hope again.
Download the Moderator’s Easter Message 2021 from here.
Wonderfully — especially in the light of these last few months — in the world around us, the ones who bear witness to the crucified and to the risen God are women. They’re the ones who bear testimony to God in suffering, death and then, in marvellous, extraordinary life.
God bears witness to himself in the world, through the voices of those who might otherwise have been discarded.
As we seek to make sense of what God might say to the world around us, and how we might speak and bear witness to a God who is present in the world, Friday tells of us of a God who is with us in suffering and struggle at every step and every breath, even God’s last one.
And in the silence of Easter Saturday we wait and see what God might do, and then on Sunday the extraordinary story of a God raised from death. Jesus Christ raised from death. A promise to all who believe, all who want life and all who seek hope.
God insists on life. That’s the Easter story for us. God with us in every moment. And in the resurrection, we see the signature of the cross – a God who has been with us in our struggle and raises us to life again.
May God bless you for this journey.
We have a story to tell in the world around us that makes a difference to those who hunger and thirst for hope, life and possibility.
Happy Easter.