Signs of new life are everywhere. Last month we marvelled at the sight of herring skiffs working the coast. Even today the sea lions are reveling in the spoils.
The beginning of April marks the annual welcoming of the Brant, and who has failed to be inspired by the fresh bursts of colour in flowers budding, new growth sprouting and even hummingbirds beginning to arrive at the feeders? Signs of new life are everywhere.
This weekend is Easter — a time of life — a time of death. The mystery of new life is that it comes through death. Christianity is not based on wise words, a philosophy, rules of conduct or a quest for transcendence.
Rather, it is based on death, and thereby life. It is rooted in the acknowledgment that it is only by the willing sacrificial death of Jesus Christ that we have true life.
Jesus stated it quite plainly: “I have come that you might have life — life to its fullest!”
In His death, Jesus took all of the wrongs, offenses and sins of the world and released the promise of eternal life. Easter is a celebration of that death and that life. Real life starts with giving yourself to the One who gave his life on the cross. Everything else is just existing.
There are signs of life everywhere but life that lasts is only found in the person of Jesus Christ.
— Brian Robertson is a pastor at the Christian Fellowship Centre.
E-mail: r_family@telus.net