by Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York
Someone once said that Jesus changed the world at 3 mph. What they meant was, he walked everywhere. And as he walked, he talked and healed and encouraged and blessed. When we walk we inhabit the world differently. We take time to appreciate the smaller things, to be kind, to be patient and to live life simply. We see, hear and feel things differently. Rebecca Solnit, an American writer, puts it this way: “The mind, the body and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord.”
The very first Christians were accused of turning the world upside down, but actually what they did was to turn it the right way up. We are used to living in an upside-down world where things are unjust, where we don’t look after our planet, where there is poverty – even in our wealthy country, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We urgently need to learn how to tread lightly on the earth and to live in greater harmony with our world and with each other. Perhaps we all need to slow down to God’s pace and change the world at 3mph! We all know what happened to the Hare.
The message of Easter is that Jesus doesn’t turn the world upside down, he turns it up the right way. By his death and rising to new life, we too can share in new beginnings and look to the future with hope for a better world. Embracing Justice is the Church of England’s theme for Lent 2022. It invites us to examine our own lives truthfully, to see the world more deeply and to pray. Find out more by visiting your local church.
Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York
Add a comment