In this final post we hit Easter head-on. What different does it make that we Chrsitians get out our bunnies, eggs, lamb and chocolate at this time of year? And how does that have any effect on our schools, apart from providing some nice breaktime snacks?
‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’
Cracking open an Easter egg on Easter Sunday is one thing I look forward to this season! All the bunnies, eggs, chicks and other spring-like stuff serves to remind us that not only is Jesus alive, but he did a completely new thing by raising to life and sharing it with us.
We humans can create new things like art, relationships and ways of working but God is the ultimate creator, and the only one who can truly restore and make all things new. This is the march of victory that God calls Christians to walk in. We are the light of the world, as Jesus tells us, because we walk with his resurrection life in us. As Chris Watkin has said,
‘The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the first glimpse of the shafts of breaking dawn that will one day flood the sky with brilliant light in the new heavens and the new earth’
What difference does this make to our school lives? Even though it may look like God is not welcome or nothing can be done to help, we walk in with God with us. His goodness walks in through the doors with us each morning, even if we ourselves are feeling a bit pre-coffee!
Also, this new thing that God does is not just nice, it’s needed. Our course mates, colleagues and the kids we teach need to know the good news of the gospel. They need to be alive in him too. We may not always have the opportunities to tell everyone in our school, but we carry the light of faith in Jesus so that we can share it.
Finally, we can pray for God to do new things that seem impossible to us. He is able to make eyes that have never worked, work. He is able to put life into bones that have died. He is able to turn around any situation by his power. Our prayers to this God are powerful and he is ready to bring more light and life our lives and to those around us.
