Easter can be like any other festival, we live through it, and then,….well,… actually nothing.  Christians claim that history turns on this point, but  do we know that power, transformation, victory, ….

DVD clip – Shrek 3, Chapter 2, 3;32 – 7;58

Discussion
What makes you laugh?

How do you survive modern life today?  We are faced today with unprecedented stresses and strains in life, the present economic climate makes life uncertain and almost nerve wracking.

There are more people who are stressed an don tablets as a result of that stress than ever before.  There are more work days lost to sickness than ever before. There was a report on the news last week that mental illness was being treated better than ever – but we are left with a question as to why there are so many people with mental illnesses.

What is the underlying problem?
All relationships struggle to survive 21st Century life.
People struggle with loneliness, self esteem,
It would be very easy to get depressed about the whole situation!

How do the Gospels help us?  What can we learn from Jesus and the Disciples?

The apostles returned and reported on what they had done. Jesus took them away, off by themselves, near the town called Bethsaida.)

Luke 9: 10 (The Message)

The Disciples had been on a Mission they had been visiting and working and building the Kingdom.  Then they had come back to Jesus, reported what they had seen and done.  Then we catch a glimpse of what Jesus leads them into.  He took them away, the whole team, to be together.

What can we learn?
Establish a rhythm in life.
Reflection -
Prayer -
Laugh

Establish a rhythm
The Disciples had been busy and they came back and changed the rhythm of their life.  It is OK to be busy. The problem we often have is that we spend too long being busy and don’t spend time doing.  What does your weekend look like?  Is it more of a busy week?  How do you live life as a family and help children to establish a rhythm?

Reflect
Do you ever feel like you are on a treadmill?  The get off and spend some time to reflect.  Don’t get caught in the mind set that the world will cease turning because you stop to reflect.  God’s in charge and not you.  It is his job to sustain the world. IT becomes a question of who do you trust?  Take time to reflect.

Pray
Jesus was not able to do the things he did without being in relationship with his Father in heaven.  His primary way of doing that was spending some time praying.  Prayer is a 2 way conversation – it is about speaking and listening.  Too many of us run our lives ignoring the fact that we can know and live in relationship with our creator.  We can know the one who put us together and who knows us better than we know ourselves.  It’s a bit like having the instruction book and not bothering to read it!  Blokes especially can be guilty of this.  Too proud to admit they need help!  Be a real man live a life of prayer.

Laugh
Now it doesn’t say that the disciples went away and had a good laugh.  But knowing what Jesus was like, even often through the sanitised glasses we wear when reading the gospels, I can’t believe that Jesus didn’t spend an awful lot of time laughing.  I can just imagine him and the team remembering what had happened, re-telling the stories and having a good chuckle about the mistakes they had made, what they got wrong and sometimes the fools they made of themselves.  They didn’t take themselves too seriously to never laugh.

So,….
What can we learn?
Establish a rhythm in life.
Reflection -
Prayer -
Laugh

Reflection and prayer
Some paper, pens, get on with it.
What will you do?