The event of the year

Forget Royal Weddings, the event of the year as far as I am concerned has already happened and lots of people I know were celebrating it, out on the streets in their communities across the world.

It was Easter of course, which is not an anniversary, commemorating a past event but a celebration of the power of the cross and the living presence of a resurrected Jesus!

We arrived at our daughter's house on Sunday evening bursting with news of all that had gone on in Pill for Easter, only to find that Katie, her husband and in-laws were equally excited about the wonderful things the Lord had done at Regent Hall, where they all soldier. We found ourselves in friendly, but joyful competition to tell the best story.

We shared how our hall had been open all week, with people from our community coming in to experience out Easter Labyrinth, they shared how wonderful it had been to share Good Friday with a new convert, who had very recently come to faith, whilst living at the nearby Lifehouse. (SA Social Service Centre)

We told how Alan had placed a cross in the centre of our village and read the events of Good Friday from the gospels whilst one of our bandsmen sensitively played Man of Sorrows. They spoke of the march down Oxford Street, the huge crowds gathered at Picadilly Circus as the Easter story was told through drama and the amazing conversations about Jesus with members of the public.

We explained how the name of every person who gathered for our Good Friday meeting was read out, declared guilty and then offered pardon through the cross. They were full of the way the Holy Spirit had touched them as they joined in with and witnessed the response to the Bible message at the corps.

We were excited about the chaos in our hall on Saturday morning as we kept running out of Easter eggs as more and more families came for our Coffee morning Easter egg hunt and how thrilled we were that some of them went in and followed the Easter Labyrinth set up in the hall.

We laughed about the fact that our Sunrise service started way after the sun rose but that nevertheless it was a special time. Our daughter Katie, who is Singing Company leader rejoiced at how enthusiastically her children sang and "knocked the socks" off the congregation!

We praised God for our band playing Easter hymns around the cross and for the people who paused to listen. They couldn't wait to tell us how the songsters had sungthe Hallelujah Chorus at the open air in Oxford Street, passed out copies of music to the general public and invited them to join in. And huge numbers did and if I did gamble I would bet that was an Easter experience that they will never forget.

Pill Corps is in a village, Regent Hall in the heart of the capital, yet the joy of Easter touch both communities and I believe, changed lives.

You can see photos of Easter week at Pill on our Corps blog

http://pillcorps.blogspot.com/

Hallelujah! He is Risen!

God bless