‘Joseph (of Arimathea) took Jesus’ body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, andlaid it in his own new tomb’ (Matthew 27 v 59-60)
In his book, ‘The Miracle on the River Kwai’, Ernest Gordon tells the following true story of a group of POW’s working on the Burma railway during World War II. At the end of each day the tools were collected from the prisoners and marked against a register. On one occasion a shovel went missing. The Japanese guard demanded to know who had taken it. When no one came forward the guard flew into a rage and began to rail furiously against the POW’s about what he would do to them unless the guilty man owned up. Still no one came forward.
So the guard lined up the work party in question, cocked and aimed his rifle at the men and shrieked, ‘All die! All die!’ But before he could shoot the first man, a Scots Guardsman stepped forward. The frenzied guard clubbed him to death there and then whilst the other men stood silently to attention. No other prisoner was hurt. At this point the tools were recounted. This time the register tallied. It transpired that no shovel had ever been missing: the tools had simply been miscounted. The man who had been killed so cruelly was clearly innocent. Yet that day he made a selfless sacrifice, voluntarily giving himself to death so that others would not have to die.
At Easter we remember fundamentally that Jesus Christ gave up Himself to die in the place of others, the innocent willingly taking the place of the guilty. The motive for this self-sacrifice is God’s forgiving and redeeming love; the effect is that all who turn in repentant faith to Jesus will have their sins forgiven and will know life eternal. His sacrifice saves all who believe in Him, turning the guilty into the innocent before the judgement throne of God. What helps me to appreciate this great Scriptural truth – central to the new covenant promise of God in Jesus – is that Jesus was literally laid in another man’s tomb. The tomb in which Christ’s body lay for three days was plainly reserved for another. By rising from that tomb in a mighty act of resurrection, Jesus demonstrated irrevocably that death could not hold Him, or any whose place He takes
through faith.
God’s great Easter message is that Jesus died in your place, taking your sin into His body, and rose again in resurrection, thereby holding out the hope of resurrection for you, too. God’s promise and pledge of new life in Jesus is for all who turn to Him in faith, including you. Why not join us over Easter, or join our next Alpha Course, to discover more about Jesus’ death and resurrection and how they can change your life – forever.
With Easter joy and with my prayers, Reverend Gary Renison Vicar: The Rev’d Gary Renison, The Vicarage, Childwall Abbey Road. Tel: 737 2169
19/09/2009 10:00 am to 20/09/2009 4:00 pm
The Heritage Weekend is being held on Saturday 19th September 10am – 4pm and Sunday 20th September 12.oo noon until 4pm. Sunday 20th is also Back to Church Sunday which is a great opportunity to invite someone along who may not have been to church for a while or if you have not been for a while, you will receive a warm welcome. Just come as come as you are and enjoy an informal, relaxed time of worship and fellowship.
The weekend includes:
- An opportunity to climb the tower
- See/hear the bells (the ringers will start the weekend off with half an hour of playing at 10am on Saturday 19th)
- Tour notable graves
- Listen to organ recitals (there will be 3 x 15 minute slots)
- Guided Tours
- BBQ (Sunday 20th – 5.00 pm to 6.00 pm)
- Open Air Songs of Praise (Sunday 20th at 6.30 pm)
Join us in making All Saints’ Church look (perhaps?) as it has never looked before – filled with your work! The FIRST WEEKEND IN JULY will be the occasion for which we invite you to bring some of the fruits of your skills and hobbies to be displayed in one of Liverpool’s oldest and loveliest buildings.
The exhibition will run from the evening of Friday 3rd July to a special service of celebration on the evening of Sunday 5th. More news later. Contact people are Henry Stott (428 3410) and Dick Williams (722 7962).
The exhibition will be open as follows:
Friday 3rd July 5.00 to 8.00 pm
Saturday 4th July 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
Sunday 5th July 12 noon to 4.00 pm
Entry is for a nominal ‘one off’ £1, the intention being to support church-based charities.
03/07/2009 to 05/07/2009
Join us in making All Saints’ Church look (perhaps?) as it has never looked before – filled with your work! The FIRST WEEKEND IN JULY will be the occasion for which we invite you to bring some of the fruits of your skills and hobbies to be displayed in one of Liverpool’s oldest and loveliest buildings.
The exhibition will run from the evening of Friday 3rd July to a special service of celebration on the evening of Sunday 5th. More news later. Contact people are Henry Stott (428 3410) and Dick Williams (722 7962).
10/05/2009 to 16/05/2009
Sometime at the beginning of Christian Aid week we should all find the distinctive, red, Christian Aid envelope dropped through our letterbox. We may already have seen the advertisement on the television. So what is Christian Aid, and what does it do?
Christian Aid is a charity supported by 22,000 churches in Britain, of which All Saints, Childwall, is one. It works in around 50 countries with the world’s poorest people, regardless of their race or religion, and attempts to tackle both the causes and consequences of poverty and injustice. It seeks to give those affected both short-term emergency relief, and help with longer-term development projects.
The main fund raising event for this work is Christian Aid Week, and last year 300,000 volunteers collected over ₤ 14 million, mainly from house to house collections.
The focus of this year’s appeal is the Democratic Republic of Congo, and work with disadvantaged teenagers there, though many other projects will be supported.
So when you find the Christian Aid envelope on your doorstep, please give what you can. If you’re a taxpayer, simply by completing the gift-aid details on the envelope you can increase your giving by 28 pence in the pound. To borrow a phrase from a wellknown
supermarket chain, and echoed by many of the world’s needy, ‘every little helps’.
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