27.03.2018
Easter Message 2018 from Archbishop Michael Jackson
‘If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above.’ (Colossians 3.1)
Easter Day helps us to move into the sunlight of hope. The Gospel accounts of the resurrection introduce us first of all to a range of people in the early morning who meet one another in fear and in loss. The response to resurrection, however, that we are given in The Letter to the Colossians is positive, proactive and uplifting:
If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. (Colossians 3.1)
In our own lives, in the lives we live with others, it is a struggle for many to look up in this sort of way. And for others, it is an entirely natural and instinctive way to go. Both perspectives are needed, if caution and creativity are to be blended into a mixed economy with a mature range of voices. And this level of tension will undoubtedly be in the minds of people as they pray and prepare for how they will approach the forthcoming Referendum, casting their vote in conscience and in freedom from outside pressures and doing so on an individual and a personal basis.
During the Season of Easter, the great cry embedded in The Peace is one of peace itself:
The Risen Christ came and stood among his disciples and said, Peace be with you.
Then were they glad when they saw the Lord. (St John 20.19,20)
I wish you Happy Easter and encourage you to savour that word: glad as a word of hope.