20/04/2025

Newsletter: Easter Sunday C

Easter Message
When Shakespeare’s Hamlet declared that ‘the times were out of joint’ he was referring to his own family’s travails yet the expression intimated more wider concerns, the collapse of an existing social order. So, the expression has come to characterise every historical age, those ages in mythical time and those in history.

Today the expression explains the ubiquity of armed conflicts around the globe and the economic and social chaos of the present moment. Wherein does hope lie? Does hope come from above, the world of good ideas or from below, the dusty earth?

Spring points to the answer, below, because out of barren earth or from seemingly dead twigs, new plant life is emerging. Seeds, planted in the parish allotments, are emerging into rain and sunshine; newly formed buds on the wisteria and vines in the parish garden point to new life from within the earth and from below.

Capturing botanical exuberance of new plant life, the hymn ‘As the new blade riseth’ connects this exuberance to the Resurrection. Jesus having died on the Cross, buried in the tomb, rises into new life. Jesus carrying the principle of divine life, the Holy Spirit. This ‘new life’ made possible by the action of God is expressed through His body. What the Church celebrated at Christmas in a collective act of hope now becomes real at Easter.

Sharing in Jesus’ bodily Resurrection starts now and so provides the foundation for life that means more than just reacting to the times. Here lies our true hope.