Ideas of hope lost and found are at the heart of the Easter story. Jesus was born into a simple family, the son, it was thought, of a carpenter, and probably his early life was spent working with his father and family.
Jesus emerged publicly as an inspiring teacher, someone whose words and actions provided hope to other people. He healed people of disease and disability. Those actions built such a reputation that people would come from all around to seek help once they knew he was in town.
People also came by the thousands just to hear Jesus speak. It was a new kind of teaching with an authority that was seldom heard.
This upset people sometimes, especially religious leaders, because it unsettled the status quo and led people to question things they had always taken for granted.
And Jesus lived up to his own teaching. He spoke of the coming kingdom of God in the world, and he lived as someone who was under that reign of God himself.
In particular, Jesus would seek out the people that others ignored or even despised.
Prostitutes, lepers, and tax collectors were some of those with whom decent people should not be seen. But Jesus chose to eat with them and even stay in their homes.
He called for a breaking down of barriers, and he spent time with the people who were excluded from a full part in society.
Jesus lived at a challenging time in Israel.
The people of Israel had been under the rule of other nations for many centuries. First it was the Babylonians, followed by the Persians, and then the Greeks. After a brief respite of independence, the Romans had arrived.
In Jesus' time there was a growing hope among people that they might be able to free themselves from Roman rule.
Increasingly, people began to see Jesus as another figure of hope in this independence movement. They wondered whether he could be the one to achieve this.
They even wondered whether he might be the long-expected Messiah.
After Jesus had been crucified, two companions travelling to a town called Emmaus gave expression to that very hope. They said: "We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel."
Hopes had been raised, but then were dashed again after Jesus was arrested, found guilty of crimes against the state and religion, and executed on a cross.
Here we find the heart of Christian faith. Jesus did die, but the power of God raised him to life once more.
In doing so, God showed that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, one in whom the very life of God dwelt, a life that could not be defeated or held down even by death itself.
Those travellers on their way to Emmaus had heard reports that Jesus was alive, and they didn't know what to make of such talk.
Later on, when they have stopped for the night and were sharing a meal with the stranger with whom they had been discussing all these things, they suddenly realised that the "stranger" was in fact Jesus. What they had heard was true. Jesus was alive.
Christians believe a faith in Jesus allows us to know God in a real and close way. Such a knowledge of God brings us that same gift of life that is in Jesus.
That gives tremendous hope, for there is a spiritual strength and resource that can enable people to face so many challenges in life and to know hope along the way.
When faith only leads to personal piety it so easily turns into self-righteousness and hypocrisy. It can even lead to the very things which Jesus spoke against during his own life.
The possibility that life can be better and of human relationships being healed were among the very things that gave people hope as they listened to Jesus speak about God's kingdom.
How is the vision of God's kingdom that Jesus gave us affecting life today? Does it affect the way we take care of our environment, or the hospitality we offer to refugees, or the support we give to those in situations of poverty?
There are so many ways every day by which we have opportunity to give the gift of hope to others who need it and seek it.
There is an old story about a child picking up starfish on the beach after a big storm.
There are thousands of them and the child picks up one at a time, throwing each one back into the sea. An adult walks by and asks the child what difference this can possibly make, as there are just so many of them.
The child throws another one back into the sea and says, "It made a difference to that one."
It is easy to become a little cynical as we get older, and to think that we can't really make much of a difference because of what we do.
But our life - and every life - matters to God. Not many of us will have the chance to broker world peace, but each of us can make a difference in someone else's life, and by doing so we can offer them hope.
Our prayer is that Easter will be a time in which you will find living faith, hope again if you know despair, and that those who know hope and goodness in their lives will be more generous in offering it to others through what they say and give and do.
There are so many good sorts in our communities, including Auckland. Let's be counted among them.
You are welcome to join our Christian communities this Easter weekend.
Church Leaders
•Pastor Paul Allen-Baines, Auckland District Chairman, Congregational Union
•Rev Dr Neville Bartle, on behalf of the Church of the Nazarene
•Rt Rev Ross Bay, Anglican Bishop of Auckland
•Pastor Tak Bhana, Senior Pastor, Church Unlimited
•Pastor Paul de Jong, Senior Pastor, LIFE
•Pastor Jonathan Dove, Senior Pastor, Greenlane Christian Centre
•Most Rev Patrick Dunn, Catholic Bishop of Auckland
•Majors Ian & Liz Gainsford, Divisional Leaders, The Salvation Army
•Mr David Goold, on behalf of the Christian Community Churches of NZ (serving the Open Brethren)
•Pastor Ken Harrison, Senior Pastor, Harvest Christian Church , Papakura AOGNZ
•Pastor Dr Brian Hughes, Senior Pastor, Calvary Chapel
•Rev Dr Stuart Lange, Interim National Director, NZ Christian Network
•Rev Kok Soon Lee, Auckland Chinese Churches Association
•Rev Andrew Marshall, National Director, Alliance Churches of New Zealand
•Very Rev Anne Mills, Dean, Auckland Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
•Pastor Bruce Monk, International Overseer for Acts Churches & Equippers
•Pastor Sam Monk, Senior Pastor, Equippers Church & Acts National Leader
•Pastor Peter Mortlock, Senior Pastor, City Impact Church
•Pastor Lloyd Rankin, National Director, Vineyard Churches
•Pastor Boyd Ratnaraja, National Leader, Elim Churches
•Pastor Dean Rush, Senior Leader, C3 Church Auckland
•Pastor Jim Shaw, New Life Churches Executive team
•Pastor Allan Taylor, Northern Baptist Association
•Rev Wayne Toleafoa, Moderator, Northern Presbytery, Presbyterian Church
•Pastor Eddie Tupa'i, President, North New Zealand Conference, Seventh-day Adventist Church
•Rev Dr Richard Waugh, National Superintendent, Wesleyan Methodist Church
•Rev Marilyn Welch, Auckland Manukau Northland Superintendent, Methodist Church
