“Alleluia! Christ is Risen!! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

“Easter is the creative springtime of God’s Spirit at work,” writes Bishop Susan in her Easter letter.

Dear Friends,

“Alleluia! Christ is Risen!!   The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!”

 In these early spring days, we are witnessing a yearly miracle as the dead winter earth transforms once more to the new life of spring.  As we see throughout Lent and Holy Week, both death and life have profound meaning.  In fact, they are dependent upon one another for their meaning. 

This is a fact that the early Church understood well — that we must carefully dwell in the events of the crucifixion and death of Jesus before we arrive at the glory of the Resurrection. Dwelling in these events helps us understand how these two things are really two halves of a single event. 

This journey of faith also helps us to understand both the purpose of the cross, and the gift of the Resurrection.  These are our ways of connecting experientially to our own stories and making meaning of them. We are invited to climb into them and let them climb into us, as the abiding hope embedded within these events settles deep into our being. 

We know how the Gospel story ends: with death first —  and then with life! With separation from God and then with profound forgiveness! With an end and then a new beginning! 

This story is our story.

The Resurrection in every way symbolizes hope; hope of new life — abundant life — in Christ. Hope is what gets us up in the morning, what propels us through our lives, and what makes them worth living.  

As we gaze into the empty tomb, we are invited to be a people of hope, a people that sees life where others see death, a people that shares the story of Jesus’ life and death and Resurrection with the whole world. 

Easter is the creative springtime of God’s Spirit at work.

“Lord, we give you thanks because in his victory over the grave, a new age has dawned, the long reign of sin is ended, a broken world is being renewed and humanity is once again made whole.”

Thanks be to God!

Every blessing to you and to yours for a very joyous and hope-filled Easter. 

Bishop Susan