Open the doors of our hearts

My thoughts on this week’s Collect have little to do with the content in it, or the Easter season. But do have a lot to do with the phrase quoted above, “open the doors of our hearts”.

I imagine, by now, God just might be a little fed up with hearing me pray, “open, or close, the doors of my heart”. It seems to be something that is frequently on my lips. It’s a prayer I use a lot in any discernment process. I pray that God will open the doors, or make the way easier, if I’m making the right choices: and close the doors, or make the way harder, if I’m making the wrong choices.

And it seems to work for me. When I’m struggling with a decision I’ll keep trying the doors, or exploring the choices, and trust that God will open or close the doors as he sees fit.

It’s amazing how often, after struggling to work out the correct way to take, things feel so very right when you’ve made the right choice — the doors open readily, the way is easier. And the obverse is frequently true too; when you’ve made the wrong choice, everything appears so much more complicated — the doors are barriers and are closed, and the way is harder.

We always have the free-will to break-through the barriers, the closed doors; but I’ve found that if I have to do that, I’m usually going wrong.

I don’t know if my method will work for others; but next time you’re struggling to make a decision, and wondering just which way God wants you to go, you might like to try it for yourself. It worked for the person who taught me, it seems to work for me, and it just might work for you too.

Risen Christ,
for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:
open the doors of our hearts,
that we may seek the good of others
and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace,
to the praise of God the Father. Amen.

Additional Collect for The Second Sunday of Easter
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

A happy and blessed Easter
to everyone.

For a new day has dawned and the way to life stands open

At last we come to the great day of Easter. This is the day we have been building up to throughout the season of Lent, and especially the last few days from Palm Sunday, through Holy Week, to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday to this glorious Easter Day. We can rejoice with Christians through the past twenty centuries, because our Lord and Saviour has broken the chains of death and hell, and risen to a glorious new life.

Today we can look at the world in a fresh light; for a new day has dawned and the way to life stands open.

The Church can be filled with faith and hope; for a new day has dawned and the way to life stands open.

Easter is my favourite season of the Christian year. With Christmas we seem to rush headlong into it, never pausing to draw a breath. But with Easter, we build up to it slowly, we take the time to really prepare for it throughout Lent. And it hasn’t been overtaken by the commercialism and cynicism that haunts the Christmas season. Yes, we have the Chocolate Easter Eggs on sale virtually from Christmas onwards; but there isn’t the same mad spending spree, with people racking up huge debts, that we have at Christmas. There are signs of new life everywhere, at least in this hemisphere, and even when Easter is as early as it is this year.

But, far more importantly than all of that, Easter is also so central to what the Christian faith is all about. Without Easter and the resurrection it symbolises, Christianity is nothing. St Paul tells us: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14). The whole of Christianity rests on this fact, that Christ has defeated the chains of hell and death, and was raised to new life. That is what we are celebrating today, this brand new day that has dawned.

May you know the warmth of Christ’s love this Easter, for a new day has dawned and the way to life stands open.

God of glory,
by the raising of your Son
you have broken the chains of death and hell:
fill your Church with faith and hope;
for a new day has dawned
and the way to life stands open
in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Additional Collect for Easter Day
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!