Onewa Christian Community and St Lukes Methodist, Northcote worshipped together for Easter.
The Good Friday service was at Onewa Christian Community. St Lukes hosted the Easter Sunday celebration. Our parishes have a long history of joint worship. It was a blessing to be together again after COVID constraints kept us apart. We took the chance to think about our shared commitment to serving the communities around us.
Easter themes
Our services emphasized the promise of Easter. Greg Morgan delivered the Good Friday message on the theme of ‘Easter abundance.’ Greg suggested that Jesus’ forgiving vulnerability is a gift we have the choice to receive as we never have before. If we can grasp the enormity of that choice, we will indeed make ‘hope and faith and pity and love’ even more abundant in our lives and the blessings we share. That’s the promise of Easter. (The words in italics come from Edwin Muir’s poem, ‘One Foot in Eden.’)
On Easter Sunday, JeongWhan Lee based his reflection on Luke 24: 1-12. He noted the effort it took for Jesus’ followers to process the resurrection happenings and to understand that they had not really lost Jesus. Likewise, we are coming to terms with the duty we have to show God’s love in the 21st century world. Against a difficult backdrop (e.g. global warming, war and unrest) we are seeking to remember that the peace of Jesus may be with us. JeongWhan asked us to practise greeting each other with the confidence that Jesus is alive! That made sparkling laughter ring out across the church as we greeted each other and left in high spirits.
Musicians and other congregation members contributed much to both services – thank you to all who supported the services with their care and active participation.
