Dear Friends

As I write there has been so much publicity about the film The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson that as a public representative of the Christian church I feel that I ought to go and see it. This conflicts with another real feeling that I’m not quite sure how I’m going to sit through a full length feature film on the last 12 hours of Jesus life, which has an 18 certificate! When I was an older teenager I remember watching the Zepharelli film of the life of Christ with my family and as the narrative approached the crucifixion I had to get up and make a cup of tea!

It’s not that I think I can’t manage the violence. It’s more that the crucifixion is part of a whole narrative of the birth, life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. I fear that to focus so heavily on the crucifixion is to skew the overall picture. The Easter story is cross and resurrection, the two fit together in order to make meaning of what God was doing in Christ, the mystery of death leading to newness of life.

I shall be interested to see the impact it has on my faith, if any. I’m a little skeptical here and wonder whether I shall feel like a spectator through a 2 dimensional visual presentation. The traffic is one way. There is no scope to dialog with the film at the time, so as suggested later on in this magazine it might be good to talk to one another about it when we’ve seen it if we choose to go. The timing is most appropriate for Holy Week, designed, I expect, for maximum impact. The visual is important to us, but faith is about more than this. It is about entering into the experience of the passion of Jesus in our own lives and in our society and the world. Where are people being betrayed and denied, where are they being abandoned by friends and society in the face of tragedy? Where are people alone and isolated, their voices unheard, their treatment unjust? These things happen every day.

Hope is part of the journey of Christian faith. Faith does not prevent evil and suffering, instead it proclaims that God is present with us in it and that God’s presence transforms it even if we cannot understand the outcome. In my experience one of the most important things which is often part of a transformation can be a change in attitude. Gaining a whole new perspective on something can be really powerful in reshaping our lives and the lives of those around us.

After all this is what happened to those first disciples as they experienced the new resurrection life which could only come through Jesus’ death. How could they have imagined this in their wildest dreams as they approached Jerusalem before his passion. And of course this story continues on in our lives. So let’s hope we don’t get stuck in Gibson’s perspective of the crucifixion, but instead move on into the resurrection and the reality of the Easter hope for our 3 dimensional world.

A precious Holy Week and a Happy Easter to you all.

Yours in Christ,

Ruth