Revd J. Daniel Yovan’s Pastoral Letter – Easter 2024

Pastoral letter

Rev J Daniel Yovan

…But go to my brothers and say to them,

“I am ascending to my Father and your Father,

to my God and your God.” ( John 20: 17b).

Dear sisters and brothers it is my honour and privilege to meet with you through this letter.

As we are celebrating Easter, could I remind you the words of Jesus to the confused and perplexed Mary Magdelene. As we know that Mary came to the tomb looking for Jesus’ body, but she found the tomb empty and met with Jesus. Even though Jesus appeared to her she did not understand that it was Jesus. However, as soon as she realised that it was Jesus, she was commissioned with a task to spread the news of Jesus’ resurrection to his disciples.

Easter time is a joyful time to be with families and friends, but we should not forget the reason for our celebration. Easter eggs are the main focus of many people during this season. Many people in our community do not know the real meaning of Easter and yet ‘celebrate Easter’. What is our role as Christians in the community we are living in? From the Easter account of John’s Gospel, we understand that knowing Christ and making him known is our task. We ought to know Christ personally and spread this good news that Jesus is alive.

Knowing Christ.^[1]

“To know Christ is to know the total reliability of a loving and caring God, even when everything in our experience seems to point in the opposite direction. We see so much in the world that perplexes us and causes us to doubt. How can there be a God when there is so much suffering the world? How can the resurrection be a victory over sin and death, when sin continues to be a living presence in the life of the believer and death remains the grim finality which confronts? It is very easy for us to identify with those perplexed and agonised disciples, as the dead body of their Lord was taken down from the cross and taken away for burial. We need to hold fast to the promises of God to be with us, even when we walk in the valley of the shadow of death. There will be times when we cannot sense his presence and when everything around us seems to proclaim his absence. It is at those moments that the full meaning of the resurrection of Christ is to be grasped. To know Christ as the one who has been crucified and has risen is to find comfort in the knowledge of the presence of God in moments of despair and anguish - moments when we feel profoundly alone, abandoned and without any helper”.

In those moments of desolation and despair we will come to God knowing that he is alive in Jesus and answer those who seek him. This great assurance of God’s never ending love and care for us will motivate us to spread the good news of his love, through Jesus, to others.

Making Christ known.

Christ is alive and come to bring good news to this and every age, till earth and sky and ocean ring with joy, with justice, love, and praise (STF 297, v.5). Our role as Christians is not only to enjoy the promise and the presence of Jesus, but also to spread this good news that the hope of eternal life is possible for all those who come to Christ. This message of the hope in Christ is vital for the time we are living in as never before. God whose love and care is living and active. God who is not distant from us and his all embracing love welcomes all, is the message we need to proclaim. God will bring an end to the chaos and the calamity of this world, in the fullness of time. I would encourage you to not stop celebratingEaster, but to continue in joyful worship and service. Those who live and work with and around us will find the ever abiding love of Jesus through our lives. Let us never forget the fact that our life is hidden in Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and our interaction with others will give witness to this truth (Col. 3: 1-3). Happy Easter.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!                          

Rev J Daniel Yovan

01727 851834, Email: jervis.daniel@methodist.org.uk

[1] Alister McGrath, Knowing Christ