RESTORATION MINISTRIES EASTER 2023
Dear Friends,
As people of faith we have a song to sing. What is it? Sometimes it is lament; sometimes it is a love song; sometimes it bursts forth in praise; at other times it comes from the fearful pit of despair and hopelessness. The psalmist urges us repeatedly to sing our song and to join our voices with all of cre-ation in praising God. All of these songs coming from the hearts of these people long ago had a gold-en thread running through them – that of trust, trust in God despite all evidence to the contrary. The only point where we have recorded for us that that trust faltered and stifled the song was when the people were in exile in Babylon and were taunted by their captors to sing one of the songs of their homeland. And they respond, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in an alien land?” So they hung up their harps and the melody was stifled. Yet this was the point where to sing was crucial; to sing out the wonder of a God who was not confined by national boundaries, or by their status in life or by earthly power and control, a God who was not overwhelmed by disaster and unimaginable suffering but who was right there in the midst of all their chaos and mess; to sing a new song in the present moment, arising out of where they found themselves; a song of love and trust and assurance and hope. They were not urged to sing once they had been released from their captivity, but to do so in the present dark reality of where they were; living the future they longed for in the now.
Restoration Ministries, among many others, had a song to sing about reconciliation, a song that has an unfamiliar melody still to many because, to their untried ears, the harmonies come across as harsh discords and the lyrics of a shared future are forgotten by those who are meant to lead the singing. The other day I came across the phrase ‘death by silence’. And I began to think of all the little deaths I perhaps had contributed to because I had been silent (either in word or action). I thought of all the silences from church and state and individuals during our 30 year conflict. I think of that conflict’s aftermath and of a peace agreement whose 25th anniversary we ‘celebrate’ at Easter. What song will we sing then? Yes we will sing of how far we’ve come and thank God for it and all the remarkable people who have sung their new song of hope. But there are still harsh discords because of death by silence – the silence of the good people. Am I contributing to death by silence? What is the song I have to sing?
What a challenge for us as to where and how we place our trust. We desperately need to awaken, to see things differently (the real meaning of repentance), to recognise that right at this moment God is
doing a new thing. Trust is so easily shattered, especially when we feel betrayed by those whom
we loved or even revered, or see that which once gave us a sense of belonging and a means of expressing
our faith or our political dreams being reduced and distorted. But when such disorder
happens it’s almost as if we have to make a conscious decision to trust again and to stand in that
affirmation in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. This is the hard lesson of Lent. Our leaders may
fail us; the fiery furnaces of betrayal of trust may threaten to consume us; the horror of suffering in
the world may almost overwhelm us; death by silence may cause us to despair. We may feel that
only the stump of what was once vibrant faith and witness remains, but the promise is that the
stump will be a holy seed that will grow again. Lent and Good
Friday do come to an end and a new day follows – the holy seed,
the resurrection life of Jesus emerges from the fiery furnace of
crucifixion and flourishes. And as we choose to trust, then
through the power of the Spirit we see things differently, we
recognise the lights that are already shining in this present darkness
and we know, in a place beyond all formal knowing, that
we have a new song to sing, right where we find ourselves. As
we allow the song to be heard, we begin to live the future we
long for in the present moment. In a deeper way than perhaps we have ever done before we can
turn to one another and say with confidence, “He is risen.”
He is risen indeed! A joyous Easter-tide to you all.
Ruth
NEWS
Watch out for Ruth’s article on the commemoration of the
Good Friday Agreement in the April Presbyterian Herald
magazine.
Please pray for Ruth as she continues with spiritual direction,
and preparation for reflection days with different groups.
Ruth will be facilitating the Mercy Sisters on their reflection
days in Cork and Limerick after Easter.
Ruth will also be facilitating retreats in Wexford
in June and Dromantine in September.
Copies of “A Traveller passing Through” are
still available here in our office at 19 Harmony
Drive, Lisburn. Telephone No 02892 675783
Restoration Ministries 