'Rubbish!'

'What do you think of it so far?'

'Rubbish!'

You may recall the repeated dialogue between Ernie Wise and Eric Morecambe.

These days, people might say, 'It sucks!', whatever it is.

Life is like that for many people for much of the time.

We may complain about the weather or the traffic, or trouble on the trains, and tell others that we have had a 'rubbish' day.

But I was hearing news from Syria, and the extensive deployment of barrel bombs, killing large numbers of civilians indiscriminately. That really is something to complain about.

And yet the international community is unable to take united action because on many key matters they are not united. The problems in Ukraine reveal how bad our relations with Russia are. So rubbish relationships mean that further rubbish actions are committed all over the place.

As usual, if we don't find a way to sort out the rubbish in our lives, the rubbish turns really poisonous, and the damage is multiplied.

All this highlights the astonishing nature of the Good News that Christians celebrate and share. St. Paul, giving the earliest record of the resurrection, sets out the simple facts.

'I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.' (1 Corinthians 15.3-8)

Paul's brief summary tells us that Jesus has dealt with the rubbish that we have all generated - 'Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said'. As the story of the crucifixion story makes plain, Jesus died for the wounded, the weak and the wicked - and that includes all of us. But by dealing with our own rubbish, and taking it away, he gives us a fresh start and the opportunity to make the future better than the past. The resurrection appearances tell us, without a shadow of a doubt, that this living, death-destroying Jesus can help us to apply his solutions to all of our rubbish-related problems. And that can change the world for us and those around us. And our broken world needs this sort of hope and help.

Best wishes,

Richard