Hadestown and 6 things to know about Easter
Nicky and I went to see Hadestown last week, which doesn’t sound like the sort thing a Christian minister should see but it’s actually a musical that gives a modern spin on some Greek mythology. The show intertwines two mythic tales—that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone. It is done brilliantly with everything from chugging vocal sounds, deep growling singing, floating falsettos, muted trombones, a train whistle, and heavy acoustic guitars.
What is the point of the whole thing? The moral of the whole musical is that there is value in trying even when failure is absolutely inevitable.
There is value in trying harder. There is value in trying again even if we make the same mistakes. Life is too bleak and we need something to believe in and that something is ourselves, even when we recognise that all the evidence indicates we will fail again and again and again.
There is something genuinely tragic about that way of thinking but it also points to the beauty and majesty of Jesus who subverts and undercuts all trying when he says, It is finished.
Try as we may to please God, we cannot. Try as we may to work out our own way to heaven, we cannot. Try as we may to earn favour with God, we cannot. Thanks be to God, Jesus breaks the cycle and proclaims victory over death and hell in his death and resurrection. Jesus says, stop trying and believe!
What great relief there is in that. There is no inevitable hopelessness when you trust Jesus for he has provided us with a strong and sure hope of eternal life. Amen and Amen.
This is the message we will be proclaiming this Easter. God is not finished with us. His message of hope is still being proclaimed in the world. He is still calling people to stop trying and believe. He is still rescuing his people from certain death through the substitutionary death of his Son. Hallelujah!
I am looking forward to Easter and want to share with you 6 essential things for you to know about the Easter weekend so you can get ready and get inviting.
This year we are running a Maundy Thursday service (7.30pm, 17 April). It will be a reflective and creative moment for us to take time, to slow down and to feel the weight of Jesus facing his death for us. Join us as we pause and pray in the run into Easter.
On Good Friday our services are at 8.30am and 10am and we will share the Lord’s Supper at both services.
On Easter Sunday our services are at the normal times (9.15am, 10.45am, 6pm).
There will be no kids or youth programs running on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. We are encouraging households to join us at our Easter services and worship together in this season.
Mandarin Translation will be available on Friday at 10am and Sunday at 9.15am and both those services will be livestreamed along with 6pm on Sunday.
There is no easier moment to invite a friend to church than Easter. It is a free-kick cultural moment and one that people will more readily be willing to participate in. So why not have a go? I am planning on inviting someone on my names list. What about you?
All this information and more is on the website at www.christchurch.com.au/easter and I look forward to celebrating the end of trying and the finished work of Jesus with you in a couple of weeks time. See you there.
