The Reverend Ali Wurm’s Easter message to the parish.
Thanks be to God for our new season of Easter and thanks be to God for the gift of our St. Oswald’s community of faith. What a rich time we have shared in our journey through Lent particularly with our exploration of “A Voice in the Wilderness: Listening to the Statement from the Heart” ABM study. In MHO (my humble opinion) Holy Week was especially wonderful. I am deeply grateful for the generous contribution of all who assisted with the liturgies and music, the fabulous Easter Eve Working Bee, the preparation of our sacred space with so much love and care put into making it all beautiful and welcoming and holy. What a joy to be greeted by glorious flowers and the butterflies our children made on Easter day.
The meaning of Easter is the celebration of resurrection. Resurrection is the power of new life breaking through in the face of what is destructive and undermining of life. Resurrection is something we can experience in our daily lives.
Every time we risk telling the truth even when we are afraid, whenever we let go of bitterness and cynicism and take the risk of trusting again then we open ourselves to the experience of resurrection. Whenever we let go of resentment and grudges and past hurts we are freed from their restrictive hold and open to the opportunity of positive relationship. When we refuse to let hurt, disappointment and failure defeat us we allow new life to break through. Even though at times we go through tremendous loss and suffering, with support, love and companionship we can get through and go on to appreciate the fullness of life.
When we reach out to help another person we help bring hope to them and this will bring them new life. When we overcome the grip of addiction and destructive ways of treating our bodies we give ourselves the chance of new life. When we create art and music and look after the environment we are nurturing the life giving spirit. When we love more deeply and offer hospitality to the stranger we are living resurrection life. We give thanks because we are more alive the more we love. It is through the inspiration of Jesus and others who live with integrity that we are encouraged to live passionate lives that we give our all to.
We now have a number of significant events coming up all of which are fabulous opportunities to invite others to join us for fun, feasting, and music. These events will be celebrations of our community life which we want to draw others to partake in. I strongly encourage you to invite you family members, friends, and neighbours to join our upcoming Quiz Night, Adelaide Male Voice Choir Sea Shanty Concert and Soul Food Feast Dinner with Julie McCrossin AM. Details are in our pew sheet. Blessed Easter!
In this Easter season, “let us look again at the lives we have been so generously given and let us let fall away the useless baggage that we carry — old pains, old habits, old ways of seeing and feeling — and let us have the courage to begin again. Life is very short, and we are no sooner here than it is time to depart again, and we should use to the full the time that we still have.
We don’t realize all the good we can do. A kind, encouraging word or helping hand can bring many a person through dark valleys in their lives. We weren’t put here to make money or to acquire status or reputation. We were sent here to search for the light of Easter in our hearts, and when we find it we are meant to give it away generously.
May the spirit and light of Easter “bless us all, watch over us and protect us on our journey, open us from the darkness into the light of peace and hope and transfiguration.” – John O’Donohue