Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. ‘I am the light of the world’ he said. ‘Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness’ ~ John 8:12 

Some of the earlier entries in this blog have been pictures that different people did at the Parish weekend about what Lent means to them. Alexander (5?) and Katarina (3?) were sitting on our table and they drew the ‘Pancake Train’ that appeared on Day 16.  At the time I presumed that this was because they like trains! Now I wonder if I underestimated their artistic genius! As we approach Easter I realise just how much that picture symbolises how I feel about Lent.  The picture that Alexander and Katarina drew is on black paper so it looks a bit like the train is going through a tunnel. And in some ways that’s what Lent feels like to me – a journey through a time of darkness. We haven’t yet reached the darkest point in the tunnel – Good Friday – when Jesus was killed and the Light of the World was extinguished. But very quickly after the darkest time the train comes hurtling out of the tunnel and into the dazzling brightness that is Easter! This image reminds me of the line from the song ‘In Christ alone’ : ‘Then bursting forth on glorious day, up from the grave he rose again!’ Wow! There’s something about this image that really excites me. It’s something to celebrate. Jesus died. A terrible, agonising death, that doesn’t bear thinking about. But then he ‘burst forth’ in victory over sin and death and he continues to dazzle us with the radiance of his light! And because of what Jesus did we need never fear the darkness again. I’m excited about Easter – I hope you are too!

Advertisement