The Revd. Thabang Bengani Chaplain Email: [email protected]

PASTORAL LETTER FOR PASSIONTIDE AND EASTER 2021

Dear St Alban’s College Community

Firstly, allow me to thank you for welcoming me into this wonderful community. I am humbled and honoured to be your Chaplain and I want to assure you of my passion and commitment to serve you and learn from you all.

A couple of days ago a friend of mine asked me a few questions: “Why do Christians make such a fuss over Good Friday and Easter Sunday? What is the real meaning behind the story of the crucifixion? If Jesus really died on Good Friday, then why is it called GOOD? Is it still relevant and good for us today in 2021?” My initial response was a very deep and theological one, but instead I replied: “That terrible Friday has been called Good Friday because it led to the Resurrection of Jesus and his victory over death and sin and the celebration of Easter, the very pinnacle of Christian celebration.”

Then I remembered that this will be the second time in a row that we will celebrate this very important season under Covid-19 restrictions. For the first time last year Christians all over the world had to face the reality of celebrating Easter confined to their homes. The reality is that quite a lot has been taken away from us and, if you are like me, you might be feeling a bit frustrated due to the fact that we have so many unknowns. Most of the time we feel like we have no control over our lives. We are living through a defining moment in human history; this pandemic is testing our individual and collective assumptions, resolve, and capacities. For some of us, it may also be testing our faith.

Well, many years ago the faith of Jesus’ disciples was tested as they witnessed the painful and unjust death of their friend, who in the end died in isolation. Jesus didn’t admonish his friends’ very human lack of faith, but restored it with his victory of life over death. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the defining moment in human history. Through the resurrection, God in Christ declares that death is not the end of our story and that all things will be redeemed. Our Easter hope is that even as we journey together through this valley of the shadow of death, God travels with us, and is even now helping redeem this calamity for God’s good purposes in the world God loves.

Clearly what happened on that hill outside Jerusalem was nothing short of horrible. Jesus was falsely accused of heresy and was put to death in the most brutal of ways: crucifixion, the greatest tool of Caesar’s state-sponsored terrorism. But the reality of Good Friday isn’t limited to the historical event in first-century Palestine; the cross has cosmic implications for people of all generations. In Jesus, God comes down into the fullness of human dysfunction: its bigotry, terrorism, disloyalty, brokenness and sin. In Jesus Christ, God wears the body of anyone who is lost and broken.

My dear friends and colleagues, I wish you and all your loved ones a very Happy Easter. May the risen Christ bring you and your family abundant happiness. Have a blessed Easter!

Yours sincerely

Revd. Thabang Bengani Chaplain