Christ is Risen

And so we’ve made it to Easter – the crown of the Christian Year - a season that continues through to early June. Easter is the time for telling the good news that should be told every day. It is the joy lightening the darker times of penitence and sorrow.

Easter is the proof and the promise that Jesus, called the Messiah - the Christ, was not just an inspired teacher or a good man, but a man in whom was all the fullness of God. The incarnate Son who lived a fully human life, even to death, who overcame death and rose in glory.
His resurrection is our present strength and future hope, the guarantee of our own resurrection, a future in which our present already shares.

The signs of resurrection are all around us. In the yearly renewal of nature, in recovery from illness, in reconciliation after estrangement, in the knowledge of God’s pardon, in all new hopes and fresh starts, it's power is there. They draw their power from the one great moment, the centre of all history when Christ rose again.

The paradoxes of the whole Christian story are drawn together at this time. The twelve disciples, who often failed to understand Jesus, who deserted their Lord in his time of need, are now Apostles, messengers of the good news, transformed from fear to courage, from despair to hope. The change in them is a major piece of evidence for the historical Resurrection.
For the Christian every day is Resurrection day, but at Easter, above all, is a time for pure rejoicing. Do we always come to our worship with such joy and assurance? Sometimes we tend to be too formal or stuffy and lose sight of the joy -- but this is a time of triumph.

Nowadays Christians seem to have lost their confidence and are unsure of their faith, some are fearful of letting others know that they are Christians in case they cause offence. But at Easter time, let us not fear triumphalism – the triumph of the Cross and the empty tomb.
Remember, Christianity is a triumphant faith, the triumph of joy over sorrow, life over death; the conquest of sin. With all Christian people, may we be filled with renewed joy and confidence, as we greet the greatest of good news; Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, alleluia.