The events that we commemorate between the times of my writing and your reading changed the world – or did they? It is more true to say that they changed forever the way we look at the world: previously it had been taken for granted that God would look after his own, in this life and in the next. Misfortunes in this life were a sign of God's
displeasure.

There were hints in the Scriptures that there was perhaps more to it than this, but they were not developed since the logic seemed so obvious – if God loved me, he would look after me. So what happened to altogether change this perspective?

At that first Easter, a totally innocent person was unjustly killed – the ultimate disaster. How could a loving God, a loving Father, allow this? 'For us all and for our salvation' replies the Christian Creed.

It was not just that his death brought us salvation from our fallen and sinful selves; it was the manner of death. Jesus died an apparent failure, broken in his mission to bring the Kingdom of God to Earth.

Then, in his final surrender to his Father, and in his Father's clear acceptance in raising him from the dead, we see that the only way to true success is an openness to love and loving which characterised his life from beginning to end. Nobody, who carries such love, no matter how insignificant and unsuccessful his or her life is in the eyes of the world, dies a failure. That indeed is good news.

Brian Hamill St Austin's Wakefield
Churches Together wishes you a joyful Easter – Christ is truly risen from the dead! www.wdco.org/site/Churches-Together-in-Wakefield
Pilgrim's Progress is edited by Nick Shields