We are living in the context of some serious unmet expectations. We were full of dreams and plans and then - bam! - everything ground to a halt.
As we approach Easter, I picture the tens of thousands of people who faced disillusionment and even despair just days after cheering their hero - Jesus - into the city. One minute it was clear he was their long-awaited saviour and the next he was arrested, tried, executed and buried.
No more mass gatherings in the hills of Judea, no more miraculous healings, no more putting the Pharisees in their place. It just stopped! There were rumours of Jesus’ resurrection but they were a hard to fathom.
Then, after seven weeks of stillness, hope was reborn. Thousands saw the miracle of the Spirit being poured out. Thousands discovered that it wasn’t over. Peter challenged them, the Spirit woke them up and their hero - Jesus - was reborn in their hearts!
Jesus hadn’t come for their comfort or to make their life easier. He had come to set eternity right in their hearts and to make them awake to God again.
We are living in the time of the stillness, a time when so many of our plans and hopes have been thwarted. But is it all negative? Does it not offer a chance to clarify and evaluate our expectations?
This weekend Delta churches are bringing their Easter worship services to you online. I invite you to join one of them and hear more about this Jesus who was raised back to life. I am confident that an experience with the resurrected Jesus will speak to the core expectations that you have for peace and joy and that his Spirit will gladly make you fully alive to God.
