Message from the Chaplain

An Easter Beach Brekky

It’s almost the Easter long weekend; and, regardless of the rainy weather that seems to be almost a standard feature of Easter, many Aussies are heading off to their favourite camping spot (maybe you’ll be among them).  Why?  The fact that it’s also the start of the school holidays this year is a good reason; perhaps it’s because a four-day break is long enough to make it worthwhile, or the weather is still warm enough…

Whatever the reason, life this weekend will basically come down to things like sleeping under canvas in the “great outdoors”; and meals cooked on the barbecue or the campfire.  For so many of us, those sorts of meals are impossible to beat: freshly-caught fish cooking over an open fire, with a smell that makes everyone’s mouths start watering…

Mind you, I doubt that any of those meals could be more amazing than the fish and bread breakfast that a group of fishermen had on a beach, a couple of thousand years ago.  Not because the fish was cooked better back then; rather, it’s because of what this breakfast meant for those fishermen.  They’d been mourning the execution of their Leader and Teacher a few days earlier under false charges; and they’d be hiding away in case they were next in line.

Then, against all hope, this Leader had reappeared to them - not as some vision, but as a living and breathing Person.  Now, when they went back to do the fishing that they knew best, this Person did something that He’d done when they’d first met Him: He showed His God-given power by miraculously providing them with a massive catch of fish.  As they ate together with Him on the beach that morning, there wasn’t any doubt in their minds about who their Leader, Jesus, was.  One of them, John, who described that ‘beach brekky’ was equally clear about why he put it down on paper for us: ‘that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.’ (John 20:31)

Whether or not you’re going camping for the next few days, why not take time to stop this Easter and consider these things: Am I clear about who Jesus is, and what He came to do?  And how do I respond to that?  They end up being far more important questions than what’ll be cooking on the campfire for the next meal…

LOOKING FOR SOME GOOD NEWS THIS EASTER?

If you’ve thought to yourself that you should find out more about why the events of Easter are such a big deal for the Christian faith; then why not go along and check out one of the church services on this Easter weekend?  Information about Services can be found in the Community section later in this Newsletter – there will be one not too far from you, and you will be very welcome!

Rev. Mark Rundle

Calrossy Chaplain