Calrossy Chaplaincy
COLOURS…
After our Whole School ‘Colour Run’ on the Friday before last, I wonder if the evidence of that event is still around at your place? Splashes of bright colours stubbornly clinging to T-shirts, shoes…or ever hair? You might even have kept the (unwashed) shirt as a memento of the day…
It’s almost impossible for us to imagine a world without colours (except maybe if you’re one of those whose first experience of TV was an old black-and-white set?!). If you’re a parent, you may still have that first ‘picture’ that your child painted or drew. It’s usually a riot of colour - even if it might have needed some big leaps of imagination to work out that the shape on the paper really WAS a portrait of Mummy or Daddy - or a drawing of your house…
We don’t hold onto those sorts of pictures for their artistic merit, or their creative colour schemes (though I guess you never know what artistic career might emerge from those early efforts!). Rather, we hang on to these creations because of who made them! They remind us of the person behind the picture, and what they show us of their view of their world, or how it expresses something of who they are…
When we look at the rich colour and beauty in the ‘living pictures’ from the world around us – stunning sunsets in our Tamworth skies, spectacular mountain ranges, beautiful shorelines, and much more – what impresses you about what you see? The blending of colours? The sheer size of the panorama before us? I’d encourage you to see the Maker of these pictures, whose creation is there to point us to praise Him and His creativity. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the word of his hands.’ (Psalm 19:1) In the Expeditions coming up next week, there’ll be plenty of opportunity for our students to do just that!
THE MESSAGE OF EASTER – THE GREAT ‘STAND-IN’
Ever thought of being a ‘movie stand-in’ (someone who replaces a movie star in scenes that are dangerous or just uncomfortable)? Sounds glamorous? In a newspaper interview some years ago, Glenn Duhigg, who worked as the stand-in for Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 2, set the record straight. He talked about the long hours and days, and the constant demands. “Whatever scene Tom was in, I would be the one standing there, being him....for hours out in the weather, getting drenched in the rain or sunstroke out in the heat. And then Tom would just walk on the set from his air-conditioned caravan or out of his beautiful sports car once the scene was ready.”
There’s a big difference between the star and the stand-in. You wouldn’t expect Tom Cruise to stand-in for Glenn Duhigg! Tom’s the important one; Glenn stands in for him.
Yet the story of Easter reverses this whole idea. Easter is all about the amazing fact that on the Cross, Jesuswas our stand-in. He endured all the discomfort, pain, and punishment from God, in our place. Though Jesus is the important one – God in human form, King of Kings and Lord of Lords – he, the star, became the stand-in for us.
Why? It was the biggest rescue mission of all time – to rescue us from the consequences of our broken relationship with God, and to reconcile us with our Creator, through being our ‘stand-in’. “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). It wasn’t a ‘Mission Impossible’ either; Jesus was the only one who could do it, and he completed his “mission” fully and perfectly. That’s why he’s the ‘stand-in’ everyone needs.
Mark Rundle
Calrossy Chaplain