It was my sins that held Him there

Seven-thirty on A Good friday evening and we've managed to get through the Ante communion, the Churches together Good Friday witness (inside the church as wet - but more later), the three hour watch service and the prayer café outside in the main square.

The act of witness usually takes place with a march which then assembles outside the Parish Church. Today, things got so wet that the decision was made to bring the bulk of the service inside with us going outside to sing 'When I Survey' around the cross.

It was amazing because I was so keen for us to be doing the service for those who wouldn't be doing church this Easter and we found ourselves preaching to the converted (so to speak), which was actually a great opportunity to address the fact that it was our sins that took Christ tho the Cross. Not only that but we were able to explore the reality that somewhere between forty to fifty million people knew little or nothing of Christ, Christmas or the Cross and that rather than bemoan this situation we needed to be 'out there' changing this.

Here's a couple of thoughts for us all to ponder.

Firstly, Jesus came as a babe to this world, the world that He had created, and brought peace. But where is this peace? Is it found in the many places throughout our world where death, conflict and oppression are to be found? Is it to be found in the lives of people within our own communities - of course not, so how can we make such a claim without a visit from the Trading Standards Office?

The answer is simple and obvious. Christ comes and brings peace to the world and His depot is piled high with the stuff, but unless we go collect and distribute it, in the depot it will remain. We cannot sit back and wait for Christ to do the door-to-door delivery, this is our job.

Secondly, we want to live within the promise of Romans eight whereby whatever we've been, seen or done is covered by the blood of Christ and yet we appear to be content to have this as our reality whilst those around continue to be dead in their sins. Can we claim to be Christians when we leave those around us to die unredeemed? Not only that but if Jesus could walk the via dolorosa to the cross for us, how can we struggle to do so little a thing as to share that forgiveness with others.

Now, let each of us say this to ourselves:

"It was MY sins that held Him there"

How will we respond?