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Connecting Christmas Day
and Easter Sunday

You won't find the word 'Easter' in the Bible. Neither, for that matter, will you find the word 'Christmas'. But together these two great Days celebrate the heartbeat of Christian faith. Joyfully we celebrate the fact that God became human for us. Joyfully we celebrate the fact that death could not hold Him from us. Our focus is quite rightly on Jesus, the reason for both seasons.

But in focusing on Jesus, we focus on ourselves as well. Take Christmas. At Christmas we celebrate what Christian theology grandly calls 'The Incarnation'. We marvel at the thought that God became a man. But at the same time we need to remember that God cannot act out of character in anything he chooses to do. Becoming human was not beyond God's own 'terms of reference'. Why not? Because humanity was created 'in the image of God'. Human beings were made to be like God. So much like God, in fact, that God could continue to be God and yet "become flesh" (as John puts it in his gospel) at one and the same time. Christ's humanity was not blown out of the water by his deity anymore than Christ's deity was repulsed by his humanity. Being God and being human are wonderfully compatible! Christmas Day gives us the chance to marvel at our history - we were created to be like God, and enjoy God's loving company.
What an awesome and thrilling thing it is to be human!

We are now at that time of year when we celebrate Easter - culminating in the glorious resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate the victory of Christ over sin and Satan. Death itself has been dealt a mortal blow.

But let's not forget that there is much to learn here of our future. Jesus was no less human after his resurrection than before. The resurrected and glorified Jesus is the blueprint or template for resurrected and glorified humanity. We are destined to have a body like his - a fully human body that fulfills God's awesome purposes for us human beings.

A body with 'super-human' powers? It all depends what you understand by being human. It will be a human body with all its powers fully restored and functional. Our present bodies are capable only of sub-standard human performance, weakened as they are by the effects of human sinfulness. In the resurrection of Jesus, we glimpse our future in all its glory and splendour.
What an awesome and thrilling thing it is to be human!

Is this true for everyone? Is this true for you?

It is by no means automatic. While it is true that Christmas Day reminds us of our awesome beginnings, and Easter Day allows us to glimpse our glorious future, the space in between tells a sadder tale. Humanity chose to go it alone, breaking off the lifesustaining fellowship we were meant to enjoy with our loving, caring Creator. Instead of maturing from "one degree of glory to another", we entered a terrible spiral of decay, heading for death and destruction. And God's heart broke.

The Cross of Christ is the means by which God can draw a line under our foolish rebellion and put us back on track, restoring our fellowship with our Creator. We are reconciled with God. The death of Jesus compensates for our sin and we can be forgiven.

But I need to say it again: It is not automatic! We need to 'own up' before God. We need to say a resounding 'NO' to our sinful rebellion. We need to show God that we are sorry, not just through what we say, but through what we do. The Bible calls this 'repentance'. And we need to go on to say a resounding 'YES' to Jesus, as we place our faith in him, knowing that he was born for us, lived for us, died for us, rose again for us! That done, we can be assured of God's resounding 'YES' to us. We need to get into Jesus and through him connect with our real humanity and our eternal destiny!

Alan Bailyes