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April 2020 April 2020

Papua New Guinea to tell the people about Jesus. The powerful effect of this film
on the people is described here:-
‘As the guards who would crucify Jesus took the big nails in their hands, people
muttered resentment. Moments later you could see and hear the nails being hit
by the hammer, securing Christ’s arms and legs to the wood. The cry of pain by
the Lord was followed by cries from all around as everyone watches with fixed
attention.
At least 500 men, women and children were present that night, and by this time
they had been watching for an hour and a half. I had already been exposed to
the audible expressions from the crowd. There was a joyful cheer, for example, at
the sight of the baby Jesus, or clicking with the tongue to show respect when
Jesus followed John the Baptist into the river Jordan to be baptised.
And when Jesus spoke to the
daughter of Jairus ‘Yu kirap’,
thus raising her from the dead,
loud applause was the
response, causing us all to miss
the next scene!
Now we saw the cross being
hauled by ropes to its vertical
position, with Jesus nailed on it.
At this time weeping and
wailing broke out all around me
BLADEN SOCIAL CLUB as people, possibly for the first
time in their lives, realised what
it meant for a man to be
Though it may seem that August is a lifetime crucified.
away given the current coronavirus fog At the same time I realised how much I was accustomed to it. How often I had
something that might be a focus to occupy heard about it, read about it? Yet how long since I had cried about it? Had I
us all is preparing for the annual village perhaps grown cold by allowing the cross to become a mere mental
horticultural show on the 1st August.
acknowledgement of events, leaving out my heart and feelings? That night as
What the situation regarding coronavirus may the wailing was going on around me, I asked God to make the cross real and
be in August is right now impossible to alive in my own heart again.”
estimate but thinking positively about the next As we remember again the familiar story of the crucifixion and resurrection of
4 months planning and producing ones Jesus, what is our response? We remember literal events. These are not fairy
entries for the horticultural show and the best stories or myths. There is ample contemporary historical evidence to support
kept garden element of the show are things these facts. Jesus’ disciples would not have been willing to die for something they
that could occupy a significant amount of knew was untrue, but they had seen Him die, and they had seen Him after the
time and work for everyone and can be
done in isolation in one’s own garden, house resurrection.
or whilst taking exercise around the village The important thing is “Why did Jesus die?” He took on Himself the punishment
and surroundings. for all the wrong things that we have done, that separate us from a Holy God. It is

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