Live Tomorrow’s Life Today!
by Michael Peat
During Lent, the Churches Together Lent Study groups have been considering some of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ miracles. Our aim, at least in the group in which I participated, was not to become fixated on how these miracles happened, or whether the gospel writers give us accurate historical facts. Rather it was to explore what each story as it is told reveals about who Jesus is and what his ministry is all about.
In a similar vein, the renowned 16th century reformer Martin Luther once wrote in a sermon that “It is not enough that we believe the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ … But we must believe also the meaning – the spiritual significance of Christ’s resurrection, realizing its fruits and benefits, that which we have received through it, namely forgiveness and redemption from all sins.” Luther’s words echo the New Testament’s core message about Jesus’ resurrection, which is that this event marks the beginning of a new creation shaped by a new covenant. This new creation is rooted in God’s forgiveness and characterised by the fact that in it, the deception and disorder of sin is replaced by the righteousness of God’s Kingdom.
What is more, the message of Easter is that with Jesus’ resurrection, this new creation begins to emerge within the stuff of life here and now. On Easter day we will read the Gospel of John’s account of the discovery of the empty tomb (chapter 20). John emphasises that this all happens on the first day of a new week, signifying the belief that Easter marks the beginning of a new reality which breaks into space and time and changes the world we know from within. Jesus is resurrected to a new, but still very much a bodily life (as Thomas found when he touched the marks on Jesus’ hands and side). His risen life is a tangible sign that heaven has come to earth. It shows us that heaven should not be thought of simply as some other place you go to when you die, but as a real, albeit often hidden, presence at work here and now.
Sometimes the message of Easter is presented as if it were all about Jesus’ resurrection giving us reason to hope for an eternal life beyond this world. What is often overlooked is that a truly biblical understanding of Christian hope is the confident belief that Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of God’s ongoing work renewing and transforming all things in the world. As the New Testament scholar Tom Wright puts it in his book Surprised by Hope, “Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project, not to snatch people away from earth to heaven, but to colonise earth with the life of heaven” (p. 305).
This is work that we are invited to share in as we share in the life of the Risen Christ through his Spirit. To use Luther’s words again, we “receive” forgiveness because of God’s gracious work in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but if we have really grasped its spiritual significance, we will seek to “realise its fruits and benefits” by taking opportunities to bring the characteristics of God’s new creation to light in the world of today. The Easter story is the reason why the mission of Jesus’ followers is as much about helping to enrich people’s everyday lives through care and campaigning for social justice as it is about helping people discover Jesus for themselves. Mission inspired by Jesus’ resurrection discounts the sharp distinction sometimes made between ‘evangelism’ and ‘social action’, because its aim is always to take the various opportunities God provides to reveal the transforming presence of resurrection life at work today.
The title of this article is a line from Brian Wren’s hymn ‘There’s a Spirit in the Air’, as it appears in the version printed in Baptist Praise and Worship (a different line is used in the version in Hymns and Psalms). It reminds us that the new life revealed in Jesus’ resurrection will only be fully realised throughout all creation in the future. But because it is a reality already at work here and now, we can realise glimpses of that future by making our present lives reflect God’s love. One verse of the hymn sums up the spiritual significance of Easter for us in a way that I think Luther would have approved of:
May his Spirit fill our praise,
guide our thoughts and change our ways.
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow’s life today!
of God in the neighbourhoods of Whaley Bridge, Fernilee and Kettleshulme. 
We also believe the Christian church is meant to be diverse and available to people of all sorts, and strive to achieve this in our life together. Our three congregations are different sizes, and gather in different surroundings. They have different traditions and different ways of worshipping. But you can sure of a warm welcome in each of them, whether you have been a church-goer for years, or just curious to know what we are about. As you browse our website, you will discover groups and events that reflect our interest in people, the local community and the wider world. 
