Easter has always been a very special time for me. It was at Easter, during my first year at Uni, that I discovered the real meaning of gospel. It was at this time, when I first understood the meaning of the suffering, death and finally the resurrection of our Lord.

As part of the small community that remained in college that holiday, I was encouraged to take part in the Easter rituals. Perhaps it was boredom - or loneliness or a good excuse not to study, but I got involved. It was the first time in my life that I experienced what I now have come to know as The Easter Triduum. In it through the series of services, we followed the path of our Lord from the Upper Room to the trial, the cross and to the tomb. Then in the early hours of Easter morning, we experienced the joy of the resurrection. And we danced as we celebrated the events of two thousand years ago.

After 26 years, I still can remember the events of that season, and how God through his people made me aware of what had accomplished through his son on a cross. My journey of faith has not been easy or smooth, but it is centred on the events of this season.

Previously, I had been looking in the wrong places. Like the women in our story, I had gone seeking a dead Jesus at the tomb. A hero, a good teacher not something super natural. I had to here the word of the Angel, he is not here… He is risen. In a wonderful way, as I walked the Easter Journey, I understood and my faith came alive. Jesus became a reality to me. I was changed as I encountered the reality of our risen Lord.

How about you?

What has this Easter been like? Have you come today with a new understanding of the cross and the resurrection? Perhaps it relates to my own faith journey, but I cannot help but come to understand that the events of Easter are about change. In fact this is what the resurrection is about. As Paul writes our perishable bodies put on imperishability and our mortal bodies immortality. Death is changed. No more the victor - but the vanquished. Death now becomes the gateway to life.

We are called to be God's resurrection people. We are called to be citizens of the new kingdom - the kingdom of God. A kingdom in which the values are significantly different to those of our own world. Being part the resurrection is what baptism is all about. The old is buried and the new put on. Today if you like, we recall our citizenship ceremony as we have passed from death to life.

Maybe I am a little strange. Or maybe it is because of the faith journey that I have experienced, but I have come to realise that to be part of the resurrection people means being part of God's plan. It means being part of the change in the world and to be part of the change in the church. For life to me is not about stasis. It is not about staying the same. It is change itself that is the sign of life. Think today of the egg. The egg that is alive will become a chicken (or a duck) but the one which is dead will not change but then it will decay.

The Lenten period, is an opportunity to look inward and explore our inner faith. In as much as our Risen Lord burst from the tomb so we now turn from the inner journey to the outward possibility. Easter is a time to encourage you and I together to consider the possibilities. To open the eyes of faith, to see where we can go. The Easter Season is a wonderful time to take stock and to look forward. The pain of Good Friday is behind and the new possibilities and opportunities are before us.

There are three questions that need to be asked and answered both in ourselves and as a group.

If I believe in the resurrection, then I can believe that God can achieve what to human eyes seems impossible. The disciples were told to wait a while until the spirit came in power. For those seven weeks, they shared in the uncertainty about what would happen. We have those seven weeks to wait until Pentecost. I challenge you to use this time to pray, and to listen to God.

Remember the three questions:

Let us pray

God of possibilities, help us to grasp the true meaning of the resurrection and apply it to our lives. Take us forward in faith that we might grasp the true meaning of being called - resurrection people.

AMEN.