An Easter message from the Dean of Norwich

The Dean of Norwich, the Very Revd Dr Andrew Braddock, shares a reflection for Easter 2026.

Watch the video message above and read the full text below.

"As we approach Easter at Norwich Cathedral, signs of spring and new life are all around us in the gardens of the Cathedral Close.

Trees are bursting into leaf, and magnificent magnolias, like the one behind me, are coming into flower.

The first Easter also took place in a garden. After the horror of Jesus's death on a cross, His friends took away His body and laid it in a garden tomb, rolling a stone across the entrance to seal the tomb.

A few days later, on the first day of the week, those friends returned to the garden, as they thought to mourn at the grave of their friend. But when they arrived there, they were astonished. The stone had been rolled away, the tomb was empty, and angels told them that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Among those who went was Mary Magdalene. As she turned from the tomb, she encountered a stranger who she thought to be the gardener. But then he called her by name, "Mary". And she responded by saying, in Hebrew, "Rabboni", which means teacher.

There was an amazing moment of recognition, as Mary saw, in the stranger, a gardener no longer, but her friend, the risen Jesus. In that moment, her grief and despair was turned to joy and hope.

So, as we approach Easter, in a world which so often seems to be in the grip of the winter of despair and conflict, the risen Jesus also comes to call us by name, to turn again to the path of hope, to embrace the new life that we see in the risen Jesus.

That is the message of Easter, an invitation to follow Christ, in the ways that lead to life and love eternal.

I wish you all a very joyous Eastertide."