Dear friends,

As we continue through both spring and Eastertide, we continue to think about new life, rebirth and resurrection. I wonder how you feel about these words? Perhaps they fill you with hope and expectation. Alternatively, they might sound daunting, intimidating or exhausting. For many of us we feel both a pull towards the idea of a new, better way of being but an equal draw towards the stability and safety of routine and things that are known. I wonder if any of you relate to the feeling that somewhere inside each of us there is an identity, a being that we might call our soul or spirit, that is somehow who we truly are? In the times when we feel most alive, or most connected to other people, the things around us speak more clearly to that part of us. Or perhaps something, such as a song or a beautiful landscape calls to us so strongly we allow that part of us to rise closer to the surface. We glimpse the potential of our true self, feel the strength and joy that we carry within us. Yet, much of the me we feel we must limit ourselves both for protection and to fit in better. We must be “professional” and “appropriate”. We try to fit in, to look and sound like those around us. And so, over me that part of us can become pushed down and confined. We can keep it, locked safely in the dark of our hearts and minds, safe from harm and derision, presenting to the world a version of ourselves that is acceptable and palatable.

I wonder how much Jesus would have felt these things? How much he felt able to “be himself and relax”. I love the gospels of Mark and John because of the way they focus on the revealing of Jesus’ identity. The 12 disciples and the others that follow, slowly discover more of who Jesus is, as a human and a friend but also as a teacher and a guide. Ultimately, they discover his divinity. I wonder how hard it was for Jesus to keep those parts of himself hidden. Or perhaps, like we may feel, he was quite content keeping the core of who he was secret and the difficulty came as he saw the need to be vulnerable and reveal parts of himself that un l now were unseen. Either way, this Easter season presents us with the imagery of Jesus’ resurrection to a human body that was the same and yet changed – transformed.

This week at St Martin’s we will read three wonderful passages of scripture and ask ourselves what they mean for us today. We will think about these ideas of transformation as we imagine with St John the new heavens and new earth that are to come. We will contemplate how we might be in a similar situation to St Peter who was convinced that they should find belonging alongside people who were different to themselves. And finally, as we read the gospel we will ask how this transformation of our being, this drawing to the surface of all that we truly are created to be, might enable us to follow Jesus’ commandment to love one another.

Hope to see you soon, either at a service on Sunday or during the week at Café Reconnect or Morning Prayer.

Blessings, Rev’d Phil