Becoming an Easter People
Dear Friends,
Easter is more than a date in the calendar. It is the moment that changed the course of history and it continues to change lives today.
When Jesus rose from the dead, it was not simply proof of life after death. The resurrection began something entirely new. It created a people who would live differently because hope had broken into the world. The first disciples discovered that the risen Christ did not simply give them a message to proclaim; he gave them a new way to live together.
In other words, the resurrection created an Easter people.
As we approach Easter this year, I have been reflecting on the theme of community that we spoke about in the APCM report. One of the things God seems to be calling us towards is a deeper life together not simply being friendly or welcoming, important though those things are, but becoming a community shaped by the life of the risen Christ.
The first Christians understood this instinctively. Their lives were bound together by hope. They shared what they had, cared for one another in times of need, prayed together, and encouraged one another to remain faithful. The resurrection was not just something they believed; it was something they lived.
To be an Easter people today means allowing that same hope to shape how we live together. It means refusing to believe that loneliness, division, or discouragement have the final word. It means noticing one another, carrying one another through difficult seasons, and building a community where grace, forgiveness, and generosity is normal.
In a world where many people feel increasingly isolated, a church that lives like this becomes something remarkable. It becomes a glimpse of the new life God is bringing into the world.
So, as Easter approaches, perhaps the question for us is not only how we will celebrate the resurrection, but how we will live it.
What might it look like for us, together, to become more fully an Easter people?
May this Easter renew our hope, deepen our life together, and remind us that the risen Christ is still forming us into a people who reflect his life and love.
He is risen indeed, Alleluia
Revd. Andrea Colbrook
Rector