During the family service, Tony & Gary organised a quiz about April Fools…

It was full of (16) difficult questions:

Being a French teacher meant I could at least say the traditions started in France and the French call April fools ‘un poisson d’avril’ (literally, April fish… in France, the tradition is to stick paper fish on people’s backs, catching them unawares!)
The answers to other questions:

Amazingly, my team won the quiz, scoring 11 out of 16 (most of which were lucky guesses!) and we each received a very appropriate prize:

At the family service last night, Mark spoke about being an April Fool or being a Lifetime fool. The Bible has a lot to say about being foolish. Matthew 7:13-29 reminds us of the importance of building our lives on the solid words of Jesus if we are to be wise people. A fool will build a house on sand, but the foundations aren’t solid enough to withstand storms. A house built on rock, however, will be strong enough to withstand storms.

The foolish man says in his heart that there is no God (Ps 14:1) and thinks that his ways are right (Prov 12:15). Man tries to live independently of God and does not think he has any need of God. If we are to avoid being lifetime fools, however, we need to understand that God is real and that He is calling us into a relationship with Him.

In 1 Cor 1:18-30 Paul shows us that God’s ways and wisdom are very different to ours. The message of the Cross sounds foolish to men, but it is the way of salvation. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor 1:25). We need to understand that ‘the power of paradox opens our eyes’ (Michael Card) and determine to be a fool for Christ.

Dave preached from Matt 21:1-11 this morning, a very familiar passage about Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In Luke 9, we read that Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem, determining to arrive there for the Jewish festival of the Passover, when Jews remembered God’s great deliverance from Egypt. Josephus, the historian, estimated that 250,000 lambs were sacrificed in Jerusalem each year; there must have been at least half a million visitors to the city, with every adult male living within 20 miles expected to go there for the festival and many more travelling much further to celebrate this festival. That year, the people were surely expecting another kind of deliverance…

Jesus’s triumphal entry, fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9, was a clear sign of His identification as Messiah. Previously, He had urged those He had healed to keep His identity a secret, but now it is the time to reveal His identity and to enact a deliverance far greater than any previously experienced or expected.

What can we learn from this narrative?
(1) We must learn to trust in God’s timing.
Jesus was working to a divine timetable. He is control, even though He ulitmately appears to be the victim of plots and scheming throughout the week to come. None of this took Him, or His Father, by surprise. True disciples must learn to trust God’s heart and wait on His timing. Jesus’s triumphal entry stirred the whole city (the same word as used for earthquakes!), and when told to rebuke His disciples, Jesus retorted that if He did, even the rocks would cry out. The first ‘rock concert’, maybe?!

(2) We have to give Jesus our time, our talents and our possessions.
The unnamed man who lent Jesus his colt was the means Jesus chose to use to see prophecy fulfilled. What is the ‘little donkey’ that we can give Jesus? Whatever our talents, when we give them to Jesus, He is able to multiply their usefulness and achieve miracles through them. There is nothing and no one insignificant in God’s kingdom.

(3) We must love people as much as Jesus loves them.
When He reached the Mount of Olives, Jesus looked down over Jerusalem and wept (Luke 19:41). He loved the people so much and knew that they would not ultimately receive the deliverance God had planned for them. God is so much more than simply a benevolent, friendly force. He is love. We must be moved with real tears, as Jesus was. We must learn to weep with those who weep.

(4) We must learn that Jesus’s way is the way of the Cross.
Jesus was born to die, to be our Passover Lamb, in a particular way for a particular purpose. The crowds wanted a Messianic King, not a Saviour. They did not understand how salvation could come through death. They were obsessed with themselves. Self-interest is the way of the world. Self-denial is the way of Jesus (Luke 9:23). If we do not learn this, we will never ultimately see spiritual life, for it only comes through death.

Last night about 70 of us, many children who had attended the Easter Special earlier in the day, came to watch ‘Hop’, a film about the Easter bunny released last year (for a preview, you can view the trailer here trailer for ‘Hop’)

The film, released in 2011, tells the story of E.B., the Easter Bunny’s teenage son, who heads to Hollywood, determined to become a drummer in a rock ‘n’ roll band. In LA, he’s taken in by Fred, after the out-of-work slacker hits E.B. with his car. Both are sons who have disappointed their fathers and who are seeking to find their true destinies in life. For E.B., that means being a drummer, not necessarily the benevolent Easter bunny who delivers eggs to children around the world; for Fred, that means following his heart and becoming the co-Easter bunny! The film, involving both animation and actors, is heart-warming and full of humour, with Carlos the chick desperate to move up from his No. 2 role to take over as Easter Bunny himself.

Such a film may have little to do with the real meaning of Easter, but it acts as a bridge between the church and the community, showing people also that we can enjoy life and acting as a springboard to conversations about what Easter really means.

After the film, people enjoyed chip butties and yet more conversation!

Many thanks to all who helped in various ways, making this a really successful evening!

We will be watching a film called ‘Hop’ tonight, starting at 6 p.m. Perhaps this bunny will feature in it!

Here are some more photos from the Easter Special event:

There were prizes for the best-decorated eggs:

… and for the best cards:

In it all, we explained the meaning of the most important week in the world’s history:

We showed people around the building, explaining our history:

We took refreshments to the market stall holders as usual:

and generally had a great time!