This Easter must be one of the strangest any of us have experienced. Even for those of us who have no Christian faith, Easter is a time for gathering with our family, for resting, and for taking a break to celebrate Spring and all its beauties. For those of us who are Christian, this is the most important holy festival of the year when, in and through the resurrection of Christ, we celebrate new life and the renewal of hope. It is a reminder that Death is not an end, but rather a gateway of transformation through which we all must pass into the light and life on the other side. And of course death is not always literal; it is something we experience at many times in our lives metaphorically whenever something comes to an end, usually in order to make way for something new.
At this time our experiences may feel, with school shut and with us all stuck at home, like a kind of death – the death of what is familiar to us in our daily lives, and what we would normally expect at Easter time. Personally, I have found it a great help to try and see this time as an opportunity to reconnect with family and what is most important in life, and every day to try to see the blessings in the small things. It’s easy to think that God is only concerned with big things in our lives and in the world, but in Jesus we see that God cares deeply for all things, even the tiniest and most minute detail of our lives and of our experiences.
Today, Maundy Thursday, I listened to my favourite daily pod cast, Pray As You Go. On it they played song Little Things with Great Love, by Madison Cunningham. The words of the song struck me very powerfully as it speaks of God’s care for each and every one of us, and for all those small things with which we struggle. In these most challenging and difficult times, to know that God is with us, and that there is always light after the darkness, that Dawn always comes and that in Jesus we have this resurrection hope, is surely something precious indeed for us all to hold onto. And whilst we are confined at home and restricted, it is good to remember that it is often in the little things that the greatest love is seen.
In the garden of our Savior, no flower grows unseen
His kindness rains like water on every humble seed
No simple act of mercy escapes His watchful eye
For there is One who loves me
His hand is over mine
In the kingdom of the heavens, no suff’ring is unknown
Each tear that falls is holy, each breaking heart a throne
There is a song of beauty on ev’ry weeping eye
For there is One who loves me
His heart, it breaks with mine
Oh, the deeds forgotten; oh, the works unseen
Every drink of water flowing graciously
Every tender mercy, You’re making glorious
This You have asked us
Do little things with great love
Little things with great love
At the table of our Savior, no mouth will go unfed
His children in the shadows stream in and raise their heads
Oh give us ears to hear them and give us eyes that see
For there is One who loves them
I am His hands and feet
May you and your families all know God’s peace and presence with you this Easter season, and always.
Revd. Talisker