“Because of Your Grace” co written with Darren Bovis- Coulter featuring Harun Kotch from The Season of Singing album recorded and produced by Ross Gill

The featured photo is of the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth – iconic Victorian venue for Risen! The Musical to be performed by the fabulous London Touring Cast on Saturday April 9^th at 7.30 pm and Sunday April 10^th at 2.30 pm. Tickets are still available from www.risenthemusical.com and www.newtheatreroyal.com

I was not going to mention suffering, as in self -sacrifice, yet but I changed my mind are reading yesterday’s devotion in Every Day with Jesus. Selwyn Hughes, who is focusing on St Paul’s letter to the Philippians, wrote concerning Chapter 3: 10-11 “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings.”

I thought the link to Risen! The Musical which, of course, centres on the resurrection of Jesus was too strong to ignore. Selwyn writes:

So important are these verses- I want to know the … the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. What can this mean?

It means holding shares in Jesus’ sufferings. The resurrection did not cancel out the cross, so that Jesus did all the dying, while we do all the triumphing. No! By raising Jesus from the dead God endorsed the whole self- giving servant lifestyle that had taken Him to the cross. So if we enjoy the power of His resurrection working in us- and by the Spirit we certainly do- then we must realise it is intended to empower us to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings in the real world, to carry the pain of rejection as He carried it, to bear scorn as He bore it. Nothing could be more relevant in today’s Church, especially those over – triumphalist sections that want all the glory, but may not necessarily be prepared to accept the cross.

The second phrase we consider is found in verse 11 in which Paul talks about attaining “to the resurrection of the dead.” Paul’s great anticipation – and indeed that of everyone who believes that Jesus rose from the dead- was resurrection. He knew the statistics concerning death are impressive- one out of every one dies. But his confidence was in the fact that through death he would eventually come out on the other side into life- endless life. Resurrection is the way God ultimately restores His people and demonstrates that they really are His. The whole of the message of verses 5- 11 can be summed up like this: the way of the cross leads home, the way of death leads to life and the way down is the way up. That’s the gospel.

So looking forward to seeing some of you on Saturday or Sunday at Risen! The Musical.