Dear Friends,

Our ‘Messy Church’ service is so named because its founder recognised that people often seek God in the midst of a messy life – whether that is the mess of broken relationships or heart-breaking loss; failed ventures or challenging health issues; low self-esteem or arrogant pride; wilful sin or unfortunate circumstances. It is to some extent incidental that Messy Church explores who God is through the mess of various craft activities. Nevertheless, it was entirely appropriate that one of those activities – the child-like colouring in of the word ‘LOVE’ – led one of our Messy Church congregation just before Christmas to observe ‘Look! Love is shining

through the mess!’ For us, it came to represent and describe the story of Christmas, of how Jesus entered this world not in the splendour of a palace, but in the squalour of a stable, to bring God’s love to us.

Now, as we approach Easter, we are faced once more with the reality of God’s love shining through the mess – through the messy anguish of Gethsemane, as Jesus wrestled with the harsh reality of his calling; through the messy injustice of multiple trials as those in authority contrived to sentence him to death; and through the messy violence of cruel beatings and an agonising execution, as Jesus went to the cross for us.

As he did so, Jesus showed what he meant when he said ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ (John 15:13) – so God’s sacrificial love shone through the mess on that first Good Friday. And the power of God’s love shone through the mess when, on the first Easter Day, Jesus rose to show that death was defeated. That is the message of Easter, and it is the redemptive heart of the Christian faith that enables us to know God’s forgiveness and new life.

Soon after Easter, we will start a sermon series that looks at how various Bible characters found God’s love in the mess of their lives, and how they made a new start with his help. If you have your own stories that you are happy to share, of how God rescued you from any mess that you have faced, it would be good to include some personal testimonies alongside those messages, to reinforce the Christian hope that God’s love shines through the mess.

Happy Easter!

With my love and prayers
Matthew Scott