RealtimeBy the Reverend David Burgess
I think this Easter will be long remembered as “the one that came early”. That’s not just our memories or imagination playing us up – it’s true. Penny has an uncle in Canada who enjoys these sorts of statistics, and he pointed out to us that Easter hasn’t been this early since 1913, and won’t be again until 2228.
What has this meant? A busier than usual Holy Week, for sure. Partly because of the calendar and partly because of new legislation, Easter has fallen in term time, with challenges and the opportunities for work within schools. For our pupils this year, the build up to Easter hasn’t been something that’s about to happen or has just taken place; it’s been part of the here and now.
For the churches it’s meant that Easter has followed on very swiftly from Christmas. Our thinking, planning and teaching has, therefore, been very concentrated, with Epiphany, Lent and Easter following one another in a rush with none of the usual small gaps for us to draw breath.
This has given me pause for thought. I’ve always found Holy Week to be the most special part of the Christian year. The set readings and the pattern of worship give us the opportunity to look at the events leading up to Good Friday and Easter Day almost in real time. The story of the week is recorded in sequence in all four gospels, and from them we can know something of what Jesus was doing on each of those days.
I say “almost” and “something of” because we don’t have the whole picture. We don’t have 24 hour coverage of that most precious time in history. Compare it with today. I’m writing this on the morning that Terminal Five was officially opened at Heathrow Airport. I woke up to the news first thing this morning; I listened to it in the car on the way to the office and it was a relief to get to the Church Room and not to have to hear about construction details, passenger figures or the complaints of those protesting against the project!
We know so little, really, about the events of 2000 years ago. St John says at the very end of his Gospel:
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that were written”.
I want to know! I’d love to find out about some of the unwritten, unrecorded deeds of the Son of God when he was alive on this earth. But I have to have the faith that I’ve been given what I need.
We live our lives from day to day, and fortunately most of us have a clear recollection of what goes on. But we can’t know everything; memory fades, things happen around us that we don’t notice, and a truly comprehensive view of history would be completely beyond our grasp. I’m grateful that we have small sections of the Bible where we can gain a glimpse of what went on in real time; but for the rest, God provides us with what we need to know, and with that I’m satisfied.