with the Rev Kevin Logan, Vicar of Christ Church, Accrington. . .

SATURDAY Message reader, you shall be taken from this place, and thence to a place of execution where you shall be...

"Hang on a mo," you interrupt. "What's the charge?"

You've been found guilty of being "only human after all". At least that's what you and I shrug when short on excuses.

Some of us kick the dog. Others beat the wife. A few cheat at cards, golf or on our employer. I've once worked with a bloke whose toilet break was five minutes shorter than his shift.

Which brings us to the confessions of a columnist. I spent hours building a bungalow in my reporting days. Later, when God and I became acquainted and he got me to quit newspapers to get revved-up, he quietly insisted that I return my "pay-off" cheque to make amends.

"Well, we all wangle work," I'd said up 'til then. "We're only human after all."

On Panorama's 'Rwanda - Ten Years On' last week a Hutu virtually said the same thing after butchering a village of Tutsis.

We've been "only human after all" since Adam and Eve told God what he could do with his fruit-free menu.

It gave God a huge dilemma - hating sin but loving sinners, who stood condemned in the dock of eternity awaiting execution.

God solved it 2,000 years ago yesterday. He turned up in his Son to take our punishment, to die in our place. That done, he went on to beat death itself, promising resurrection victory to all who turn to him as Lord.

Happy Easter!