April 2017
N E E D TO K N OW
ndle
Easter Message By Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford “HE became what we are so that we can be what he is” - St Athanasius (296-373 AD) “For our sake he made him to be sin
I S T O R I E S I A R E A U P D AT E S I E V E N T S N E A R Y O U God.” - 2 Corinthians 5. 21 Two images dominate western art. You can see them in every art gallery in
earth. This seems preposterous! It’s not
the Christian faith: it is what we must
how we think of God at all!
declare before we declare anything else;
Surely God is not a tiny child? Surely
God is with us. In this man God has
Europe and in the stained glass windows
God doesn’t hang on a cross? Surely
come to us in our own flesh and blood.
of every church.
God – if he is God at all – is ‘all
God breathes the air we breathe. God
One depicts a child in his mother’s
powerful’, ‘unchanging’, and ‘all knowing’.
walks the ground we tread.
arms. The other shows a young man
In this man, and especially in the awful
dying on a cross. The Christian faith says this child and
God knows what it is to be human,
climax of his awful death, we are invited
shows us how to be human, and speaks
to consider God as one who is emptied
to us with a human voice., shows us
who knew no sin, so that in him we
this man are the same person. They say
of power, as one who shares the life of
how to be human, and speaks to us
might become the righteousness of
that he is God come down to
earth. This is always the first message of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 www.chelmsford.anglican.org
Journey invite: See Page 3
Bishop Stephen hits the road again
First conference considers the challenges of Interim Ministry
Great Waltham prepares to stage Easter Passion Play around the village
Pages 2 and 12
Page 6
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