March has happened at an odd time this year - I know that sounds strange but for me it's true. As we begin March we have the earliest Mothering Sunday I can ever remember - what will the local lads do when there are no Daffodils in the village gardens or verges to take home for Mum! Then before the month is out Easter is upon us - the schools staying open until Maundy Thursday to eke out the last few possible days of the spring term.
The whole of the Christian year is compacted to a month - on Mothering Sunday we reflect on the life of Mary and on her acceptance of her part in God's plan - to bear the infant Jesus into the world. We then walk the darker road that leads to Jerusalem and to Gethsemane where Jesus himself struggles with his doubts and fears as he contemplates the full implications of God's plan, of His plan to save the world. In our minds we will walk with Him on the final road to Golgotha - the place of the skull - and together "survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died".
Then in the silence and stillness of Saturday we wait as the disciples waited, but we wait not in fear but in hope and in joy to celebrate the truth that the tomb was empty on that first Easter morning, to quote the words of a modern hymn "Death is dead, Love has Won, Christ has conquered!".
In one month we follow again the story of God's love for us, from birth to death to a life that will never end. I want to encourage us to walk together this March - to remember the truth of God's loving purposes for us.
What a month lies ahead!
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