Hillside Parishes Magazine

When a sculpture is to be cast in bronze a wax copy is made, then invested in a plaster mould, which in turn is heated to dry it out and melt out the wax before the molten bronze is poured in. At this stage all may be lost before the empty cavity, like the empty tomb, yields up the new product for fettling and finishing. So the disciples, especially the women, waited until the Sabbath was over so that they could see that Jesus' body received the proper rites due to it. Yet this was not to be. The body had gone and the tomb was empty. At this point the sculptor, unless the object was modelled in wax direct which is often the case, has to make another wax from the first mould and repeat that part of the oldest industrial process known to man. Eventually, in an idiom that would appeal to Jeremiah or the Apostle Paul, the new body rises from the ashes and debris, so to speak, and with new life and form the sculpture speaks afresh. The change of material in its body enhances its appearance and restates its meaning or message.

So bursting through the embrace of death and the confines of a tomb like a newly cast and burnished sculpture, what does the risen Lord have to say when surprise has given way to joy and a more receptive frame of mind? His cry of dereliction on the cross, O My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? suggested all was lost and going pear-shaped. God did not wave a magic wand and exert control. Yet with the hindsight we have, and which slowly dawned on the early disciples, we see that the whole process of recasting Jesus, if you like, is God's new Word to us. It brings new hope, it is life changing, it offers a new dimension to our lives, it offers a new look at and a deeper understanding of Biblical truth, and it opened up a new way of looking at our lives.

We now have the assurance that God's creativity goes through and beyond death, and we need to be mindful of the measure of our sins. There is the assurance that like new life in spring we can make a fresh start in this life as surely as we can in whatever dimension life to come takes as well. For us to know the reality of resurrection we need to know or experience the reality of receiving forgiveness. For many who have not really sinned or are aware of the levels of sin in their lives beyond keeping the 10 Commandments (fundamental in themselves to the stability of any society) this may be difficult. If they could enter more deeply into the meaning and symbolism of their own rites of passage, assuming they were baptized, they would know that God, through the waters of baptism, calls us beyond to a promised land where thy will be done and that those displeasing to Him perish in those waters like the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Baptism is a sort of death we share with Christ, like that shaky time of the wax in the mould, before being drawn out like Moses to new life.

Christmas through the incarnation puts the divine into the human and Easter through the resurrection puts the human into the divine. There is new life, new hope, and a fresh start is possible. Easter is about more than chocolate and the worries over how many air miles your cocoa has clocked up. However, even in the light of new life in Christ and understanding God's word better we will even get a new take on those issues. Make the most of it!

GET READY TIME FOR CHRISTIAN AID WEEK It's time for local churches to plan for this year's Christian Aid Week, May 14-20. If you do a house-to-house collection, try and recruit enough collectors to cover your area. It's a shame to deprive people of the opportunity to give, and help combat global poverty. If you organise an event, try to make it the best one yet. This year there's a focus on a scheme to provide fruit trees in El Salvador. Why not have a plant stall? If your village hasn't supported Christian Aid Week recently, please try to do something, however modest, this year. Last year we raised almost £7,370 in Thirsk and district, contributing to a national total of over £10 million. Let's play our part in attempting to raise even more this May. (Paul Rathbone, Thirsk Christian Aid Group)