Chaplaincy | Easter Mission

A celebration and a reminder | Easter Mission 2022

What a relief that it’s nearly Easter.

With so much of our lives dominated by work, you don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate the break that comes with Good Friday and Easter Monday. For many of us, the Easter long weekend represents an opportunity to halt production, catch a breath, and ‘get away’ from it all, whether that involves leaving Sydney or simply putting work out of your mind for a few days.

For followers of Jesus, however, the Easter break is more than just a time to recover. It is a time to celebrate.

Each year at Trinity, we have special ‘Easter Mission’ assemblies in addition to the weekly Chapel program. We do this as a way of creating extra space for students and staff to pause, hear, ponder, reflect on, and perhaps even take up the life Jesus offers us as a result of his death and resurrection, which we celebrate every week, but in an intensified way at this time of year.

This year’s Easter Mission assemblies saw two very special guests join us in Dr Justine Toh from the Centre for Public Christianity, and our own Mr Suli Niulala from the Junior School. Mr Niulala blessed us with his considerable musical prowess, singing, playing, and even narrating ‘The Road to Calvary’, a song of his own composition.

Dr Toh delivered a powerful message on ‘Achievement Addiction’, during which she shone a light on the dark side of living in a world obsessed with merit and success, and offered the Christian gospel of grace as an alternative to locating your individual worth and significance in what you have achieved (or conversely, failed to achieve). At the climax of her message, Dr Toh reflected on Jesus’ story of the workers in Matthew 20:1-16, which concludes with his famous words about how, in God’s kingdom, “the last will be first, and the first will be last”. It’s a recognition of how in God’s economy, trying to earn your way in the world doesn’t cut it, because ultimately, everything in life is a gift that no one has done anything to deserve. In Jesus, God’s love for us is unconditional. With him there is no talent mapping, no self-made merit, no basking in or desperately trying to recapture former glory. God’s love for us does not depend on our achievements or lack thereof, but rather our standing with him is entirely based on what he himself has achieved on our behalf, at the cross and the empty tomb.

It is my hope and prayer that this Easter, you will be able to rest, not just physically, mentally and emotionally, but spiritually too, knowing that the grace of God shown in Jesus releases you from the treadmill of merit and success.

Blessings,
Nathan Lee | Assistant Chaplain, Senior School

For those interested in thinking more about ‘Achievement Addiction’, Dr Toh has a book with this title which was distributed to staff and students, and can also be purchased here.

Read more about Dr Toh’s Easter presentation here