Rector’s Letter April 2025.
Imagine the scene. The church is in darkness, people stood waiting. A spark is made and a fire kindled. The large paschal candle is lit and light begins to come into the dark building. Each person has a candle and light is passed from one to the other and the whole building is full of light. The paschal candle is held high and one calls out ‘The Light of Christ’ and all respond, ‘Thanks be to God’; and repeat and repeat again as the volume increases – the light of God is here, now, visible. It is Easter morning, ‘Alleluia! Christ is risen – He is risen indeed. Alleluia!’
And how we need that message today. But look at what takes place. A single spark turned into a flame; a single candle passed around to individuals, none brighter than the next but together banishing darkness.
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the news, not just the big event when the news always begins with ‘President Trump….’, but the news of another young life lost to a stabbing. It doesn’t affect me tucked away in Bere Alston and yet it creates the atmosphere, it causes darkness to descend and eyes are blinded to the Easter reality.
‘Christ is risen – he is risen indeed’. That is my reality, my foundation. People may live with other ideas – ‘we are all doomed’, ‘all going to hell in a hand cart’, science will make it all better, or a myriad of others. But for me ‘Christ is risen’ is my starting and finishing point. This does not remove the realities of the world but changes how they are seen. It is not immune to all around, it does not isolate you against the joys and sorrows of life but is does give a perspective of hope for now and eternity.
If death is not the end and now is not the only reality then we can live without the fear of what tomorrow might bring. Tomorrow might well be terrible but it does not have the final word.
We all live with our own understanding of life, spoken or unspoken. It is worth looking at our core belief to see how they influence the here and now. Then ask, ‘If Christ is indeed risen, what would that mean to me?’
Have a blessed Easter.
Nick Law
Rector