Easter Day
Sunday 12th April 2020
As public worship has been suspended in a bid to limit the spread of the Coronavirus the service for Easter Day was recorded and made available online. That can be found here.
Easter Day
Acts 10.34-43
John 20.1-18
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
“Mary stood weeping, outside the tomb.”
It is easy to understand quite how desolate and devastated poor Mary must have felt on that first Easter morning.
Her world had been turned upside down. The Friend she valued above all other was gone. She came looking for him – wanting to perform the last act of love that she could for him – to complete the burial rituals that her faith demanded.
And all she found was absence. An empty tomb. No Jesus present. No body that she could care for and tend and say her farewells to.
Sadly, that is an experience that many families will be facing this Easter and probably for a good few weeks if not months to come. Our world has been turned upside down in the past weeks. We cannot go out to work – unless we are classed as key workers. We are unable to carry out the mourning rituals for our loved ones in the way we would wish. And our church buildings must – for the time being – remain locked and empty. It is enough to make you feel desolate and devastated.
But Mary does not stay in that place of dark despair for very long…
She soon discovers that the tomb is not as empty as she first thought. There are angels asking the cause of her sadness. And then she finds – wonder upon wonder – that Jesus himself is there with her – even though she takes a while to recognise him for who he is.
The joy of resurrection breaks through her tears to confound and surprise her. Her friend, her beloved teacher is there! Offering comfort but making her understand that the world has changed for ever and she cannot cling on to her old understaindings; her old idea of who and what Jesus is.
This is the new reality. He is transformed and transfigured – barely recognisable and yet wonderfully the same.
And as we emerge from the darkness of these current days into the future, will we find a world that is changed out of all recognition I wonder?
It has been brought home to us very strongly that the church does not depend on our buildings – any more than Jesus was constrained by the tomb. It played its part of course, and I am sure we will joyfully return to a place of gathering and worship just as soon as it is safe and reasonable to do so. Our church buildings have their part to play, but we cannot, we must not have our vision limited by physical barriers. The church is alive and well; the church is out here in the community; the church is busy – caring for those in need, praying for those who suffer and those who look after them. The church is using new means to encourage and allow its people to worship God and to find the peace that only comes from knowing you are loved and forgiven.
So on this strange Easter day, let us rejoice that we are able to meet together through the miracles of technology. And while we may feel sadness at what we have lost – let us also recognise all that we may be gaining as God is showing us new ways to witness to him in the world.
Christ is risen, he is risen indeed! Alleluia!