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Our March Pastoral Letter
is kindly provided by

Brian Wilkins
a Member and Elder at
the Wareham Church

This month we start by remembering our Lord’s last supper with his
disciples, initiating his new saving covenant offered to us and all
people; and his amazing love, which enabled him to overcome the
mental and spiritual suffering of abandonment by his friends,
betrayal by one of them, denial of even knowing him by his most
trusted disciple Peter, and enduring false accusation, injustice,
insult and torture without recourse to verbal defence or using his
divine power to save himself.

We recall him ‘sweating blood’ in the garden of
Gethsemane as he struggled alone to face what
lay before him, yet determined to stay true to his
mission and his Father’s will, and his physical
courage in suffering extremely painful death on the
cross as a result of this. Wonderfully, while in
agony on the cross, he prayed for forgiveness for
his persecutors, promised immediate paradise to
his repentant fellow sufferer, and arranged for his
disciple John to take care of his mother. He drew
attention to the significance of his impending death
by quoting Psalm 22, which ends “the Lord saved his
people”, and triumphantly claimed “It is finished” before
commending his spirit into his Father’s hands.

The curtain of the Temple was torn in two, signifying that we are no
longer separated from God’s presence, and we celebrate on Easter
Sunday our Lord’s rising from death and appearing to his disciples,
confirming their and our salvation. What a cause for celebration
and Hope for us as we continue facing the many grim realities of
our current world situation!

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