​On Sunday 19 April 2026, Rev. Bridgette Siepker spoke on a topic that is a theme for this Easter Festival and will be taken up again in a future conference; the theme of “Walking with Christ”. What does this really mean and how does it enter our own lives?

When we read scripture we can come to an understanding of what “Walking with Christ” may be. The women go to the tomb on the first day as the sun is rising with spices and no idea of how they are going to roll away the large stone from the entrance so that they can fulfil their task. When Mary Magdalene encountered Christ on the first day of the week, she thought he was the gardener. She spoke with Him. When he spoke her name, she recognised him. Later in the day, two of the circle were walking across the fields and “they were talking about the event”. As they were talking a third person drew near and asked a question. When they confronted his ignorance of the event that was uppermost in their mind, he began to lay out for them in scripture all that had been said about the Christ. When they arrived at their destination in the town of Emmaus, he was about to leave them and they invited him in. Yet, it was only in the breaking and blessing of bread that they recognised who their companion had been. Then they recognised that their hearts had been burning as he had spoken with them as they walked.

We can uncover a few things from these scripture readings: firstly, intention. The women had intention in their going to the tomb, Mary Magdalene in her questioning of the gardener and the disciples in their analysis of the event of the crucifixion and the body that was not in the tomb. Secondly, an openness towards the unknown in the intention. The women went alone to the tomb knowing there was an insurmountable obstacle to be overcome, a stone too heavy to move. Mary Magdalene was open to learning what had occurred. The disciples were open to understanding the mystery of the event. Thirdly, the ability to sense the Christ. The women expect to see, and see the angelic being. Mary Magdalene hears her name. The disciples recognise that their hearts had become aware of a truth.

In the Act of Consecration, we hear the words “walking with Christ” in the Canon. Yet, this translation from the German is insufficient to express the full meaning intended in the sacrament. The German word also implies a transformation, a deep and lasting transformation, that occurs in this “walking with Christ”.

We may also remember the theme of Passiontide which was the walking towards death. Death is a process of letting go. In our “Walking with Christ” is implicit the letting go of what is no longer of service to us.

In letting go, holding intention, being open and sensing the reality that approaches us, we can enter into an experience of “Walking with Christ”, and the practice will bring momentum to our ability to “Walk with Christ”.

​In the previous month’s article on the Gospel of Matthew, I wrote about a particular theme that I hope to follow throughout the Gospel. After Jesus speaks the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount He speaks about what it means that he has come to fulfil the law (not to abolish it). He raises six aspects of the law: killing, dishonouring marriage, divorce, swearing an oath, revenge, and for whom to have love. In each case, after stating the law, Jesus says, “But out of my own power, I say to you …”, placing to power of judgement upon the “I”. It is through the “I am” incarnate in us that we discern what is right and what is wrong. In this way the law is fulfilled in our right discernment and without having to turn to the written law of the Old Testament.

Jesus then turns to our engagement with a spiritual life. Our connection with the spirit is in our innermost being and not something that is visible or displayed outwardly. He teaches the disciples the universal prayer that connects us with the Father, and brings the will of the Father into earthly life through the human being. It connects each aspect of our constitution with our need and shortcomings.

Life of earth can so easily be about earthly matters, yet these bring nothing to our eternal being. Jesus instructs that any area of life (our being) that has fallen into earthly darkness is best discarded. This is followed by one of the most mysterious aspects of this Sermon on the Mount, how life is provided for by the spiritual world and our stiving should not be about food and clothing. When our stiving is directly correctly, the world of spirit will ensure that our earthly needs are also met.

​by John-Peter Gernaat

As promised in the April newsletter this article is repeated with the last days of Holy Week added.

We experience the Holy Nights at the time of the birth of Jesus as being connected with the month of the year. We can experience the events of Holy Week connected with human destiny.

In the southern hemisphere, we are in Autumn and the days are getting darker. Nature does not mirror the renewal of life that is celebrated at Easter. In the northern hemisphere, it is the opposite, and the mirror between nature and the renewal of life in the Resurrection is visible. Is it possible for us to hold both of these images within us simultaneously in balance?

Nature in the southern hemisphere can teach us something of the path towards death, the turning of the leaves, the ripening of fruit and the surrendering of seeds into the dark of earth. Holy Week is the path to death; it leads to the Deed of Golgotha. This was part of Christ’s time on earth. The possibility of Christ being on earth had been there from the beginning, yet the Deed was not accomplished until it was accomplished. What might have been the state of the spiritual world at this time?

Before this Deed of Christ there was a way of being for humanity; after the Deed of Christ there was another way. There was no going back. The Deed of Christ was done for all humanity.

In Holy Week, Christ walked the way to death. How do we walk this way? Resurrection is possible only after the process of death. We can experience resurrection more clearly in our lives if we can walk this way of death.

Each day of Holy Week has a particular signature of how to walk this way of death. Becoming conscious of this signature leads us to approach this way of death in a conscious manner.

Beginning on Palm Sunday, there is a deliberate act of entering Jerusalem. Christ is saying ‘yes’ to what lies ahead. The great welcome that he receives does not deter him from the road ahead.

In the picture of the palm tree, we have a plant that has no branches, only a trunk. At the top of the tree is the heart of three from which new fronds arise. It is a picture of a tree that raises its heart to the light of the sun.

From Palm Sunday, we see a frenzy of chaos and in the midst, Christ, undeterred, travels the road into this week. In this week we hear that Christ is in the Father. How may we receive the will of the Father in our lives? It is through the higher self that we access the will of the Father.

On Holy Monday, the day of the Moon, we are confronted with the story of the cursed fig tree. This is not so much a physical tree and the representation of a spiritual way that has ended and is no longer valid. The new way is clearly declared by Christ; it is faith. We can contemplate what this looks like.

There is a second activity connected with Holy Monday, the deliberate activity of clearing the Temple. Interest and active participation bring about change.

Holy Tuesday is a very active day with every section of society questioning Christ in order to find fault with him. It is the day of Mars and decisive activity. Christ answers the challenges in a way that points to the incorrect thinking of the questioner. He responds with parables. Some of the greatest teaching given by Christ is done on this day. We can experience hope in the change of thinking needed.

Holy Wednesday is the middle of this Holy Week. Nothing is said of the day. It is as if something ends, and in the evening something new can open up. In the evening we confront the deed of devotion of Mary in anointing the feet of Christ. Devotion for Christ arises out of love for Christ. We encounter two people who have been with Christ for an equal period of time, yet they have very different approaches to the developing way to death. Mary has developed devotion, while Judas has developed another way and walks out. Both of these ways live in each of us, and we can become aware of them. We can also contemplate the sacrifice of Mary, which angered Judas, because it is only through sacrifice that human destiny moves forward.

Maundy Thursday. This again is a day where the activity is primarily focused on the night. Thursday is influenced by Jupiter which is connected with the forces of life. Jesus washes the feet of the disciples demonstrating our future as humanity. It is through servitude towards each other that we arrive at a fully christened being. During the Last Supper Jesus (as presented by John in his Gospel) speaks extensively to the disciples about his relationship to the Father and to humanity. He speaks the last of the “I am”-statements, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” and “I am the vine”. Then follows the giving of his life forces as he unites them with the Bread and the Wine and initiates the Eucharist. Christ has given his life-forces into the sphere of the earth. He walks out of the Upper Room with his disciples spent of all his life-forces. What follows Christ Jesus achieves through the power of his will. The kiss of Judas lends Him life-forces to continue and, in one of the Gospels, the young man who runs away naked is another source of life-forces loaned to Jesus.

The Good Friday contemplation was a focus on the complete mission of Christ.

On Holy Saturday we started the artistic activity without a contemplation on the day that occurs in a realm invisible to the human eye. Our Creed reveals the significance of the deeds of Christ on this day.

On Easter Sunday, the octave of Palm Sunday, the question can arise in us: What can I acknowledge? And in acknowledging this, what changes for me? We take note of the devotion of the women who go at daybreak to the tomb. They speak of the insurmountable obstacle they must overcome to fulfil their task of anointing the body, yet even though they do not know how they will roll back the stone, they are not deterred in their devotion to fulfil this deed for Jesus. What obstacles do we allow to deter us from our goals?

Now follows a period of forty days of Easter. This is the number of gestation and of initiation.