Easter Message

Revd Dr Daniel Haylett Chair of District South West Peninsular

Dear friends,

At the heart of Christian faith lies the twin realities we commemorate and celebrate at Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The journey that Jesus makes between those two events and all that they symbolise might encompass much of our own experience as disciples today.

We are at once both in the midst of suffering and death in our world today, as well as being an Easter people whose lives are the site of resurrection. The events of Holy Week and Easter that we recall and retell call us to an active participation in the larger story that God is telling. For our world and our communities, it is easy to think of and point to decline and for despondency to set in. We live in the shadow of war, and where generational changes beset us in our climate, in our politics and in the Church. We are asked to open ourselves up to the suffering of Jesus, and to align ourselves with his dying, in order that we may experience new beginnings and new life.

One of our hymns puts it like this: “The church of Christ, in every age, beset by change but Spirit led, must claim and test its heritage and keep on rising from the dead.” (STF 415) Here’s a response and a challenge. As God’s people we are called to keep on claiming the riches of the heritage of our Christian faith, and to keep on participating in God’s Easter here and now. It’s a powerful reminder that when our hope is shaken, or when we feel that we cannot see any change or a way forward then our Easter faith gives us new dimensions.

We go on rising from the dead when we feel we have no future and find fresh strength. We rise from the dead when we reimagine the way that mission and ministry goes on in our village, town or city. We rise from the dead as followers of Jesus when in every age we must seek fresh ways to listen and address our own contexts. At Easter we are reminded of the power of being part of a Church that keeps rising from the dead.

May we know that power in our lives too.

With every blessing,

Dan