Club Chaplain Richard Longfoot has penned the following ahead of the Easter weekend.
As I write it is just one year since our first ‘lockdown’. Our hope then was for a limited time of disruption followed by a speedy return to some normality. Little did we know how much sadness and difficulty lay ahead. We were disappointed with the way our football ended, but that was nothing compared with the tragic loss of thousands of lives and the physical, emotional and mental issues suffered by so many.
It has been a year of ‘mood swings’ in my experience, from feeling like I was almost enjoying lockdown, to the desperate feeling that I could stand it no longer!
As I see the adverts for Hot Cross Buns (how can chocolate in them be right?) and reminders to get the Easter eggs in, my thoughts turn to Easter. It is the Church’s greatest celebration, but this year any limited meeting in a Church building will be socially distanced and without singing! It will mostly be Easter online!
I am reminded too that it is a story full of ‘mood swings’. The friends and followers of Jesus were firstly excited as he was welcomed by cheering crowds into Jerusalem. A week later it turned to despair as he was cruelly taken from them. Suddenly it seemed to be an ‘hopeless end’ to all that they had looked forward to. They put themselves into self-imposed ‘lockdown’. Scared to go out! Fearful of what the future might hold, their mood must have been very low. Perhaps matching the feelings of many of us over the past year.
After three days something amazing had happened, unexpectedly Jesus came to them, he brought reassuring words of peace and hope. It’s hard for them and us to understand, but they could say ‘The Lord is risen!’ It was a truth they were ready to die for themselves, rather than deny it! Their feeling of a ‘hopeless end’ had become an ‘endless hope’.
I’m all for a bit of chocolate Easter egg, along with all the other signs and symbols of new life and new beginnings that are so important to us at this time of year. It feels especially important this year as we recognise how hard it has been for many to feel positive and upbeat. Perhaps more than anything we need ‘hope’, as we feel desperate to get back to normality. Oh, to watch a football match for real again, to sit alongside all those we enjoyed chatting with, and sharing our wisdom with!
As football fans we know only too well what mood swings are all about! As we celebrate Easter I trust our ‘mood swing’ will be very much on the up!
I hope everyone connected with Posh can have a peaceful and relaxing Easter. Thinking especially of all those who have been going through sad and difficult times in the past year.
Keep it POSH and keep it KIND! Easter blessings to all.
Richard Longfoot.
Club Chaplain