Posted on: 17th May 2022

“Forty days of unremitting joy.”  That is the traditional definition of Eastertide; from Easter Day to the Ascension.  Now I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to sustain even forty seconds of joy unremittingly, let alone forty days.  But that’s because we confuse Joy with Happiness.  Happiness is nice but fleeting; it’s on the surface.  Joy goes deep. 

I remember once meeting a hermit.  He was not at all subject to that horrid Christian affliction of Chronic Niceness.  In fact he was at first encounter more than a bit grumpy.  I imagine a lot of the Celtic saints were like that; and certainly Paul and Peter had their moments.  But underneath that, the old hermit emanated, radiated Joy; as though he couldn’t help it, and we loved him for it.  

The clue is in the flowers which decorated our churches so beautifully at Easter.  They looked lovely; but they were already dead because they weren’t growing.  We are called to grow, being rooted and grounded in love (Eph.3:17).  Growth ain’t easy.  It’s often painful.  There is no growth without conflict.  But the battle is already won.

As we remember, and live again through the Resurrection appearances of Jesus, we hear him say to us, as he says to them, Peace; shalom.  That peace which passeth all understanding. 

Let the waves be stilled; let your doubts and sorrows be, but let them be as nothing.  We are called to grow, to be real, to be rooted in Him.  He calls us to be everything He created us to be, rooted and growing in Him, until he calls us home.  Unremitting Joy.

Rev Roger Quick

Chaplain St Georges Crypt