An Easter message

By The Dean of Norwich, the Very Revd Jane Hedges - 30 March 2021

There’s a story about some twins in the womb having a conversation with each other about what the future would hold. One asks the other, “So, do you think there will be life after birth?”

During this past year we have all had to come to terms with living with uncertainty. We have been in and out of lockdown, people have been furloughed or put out of work altogether, others have wondered if their businesses would survive, schoolchildren haven’t known whether they would sit exams, young couples have found themselves postponing their weddings several times over, NHS staff and care-workers have constantly had the worry of not knowing if they would be overwhelmed with very sick people.

On top of all this, we’ve all lived with the fear of catching COVID-19 ourselves or of losing a loved one who is particularly vulnerable. The virus has in short, made us human beings aware of our fragility and of our mortality.

This week as we come to a second Easter still in the midst of the pandemic, the message that Christ suffered and died and rose again from death, brings hope to us and to our world ~ hope for the here and now, and hope for the future.

Babies in the womb would not have the capacity to imagine what would be in store for them beyond birth, and yet what an amazing world babies are thrust into as they are born.

Likewise, on this side of the grave we cannot begin to imagine what resurrection life will be like, and yet we are promised that Christ has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us in his glorious kingdom.

And the gift of new life, resurrection life, is not only something to look forward to in the next world, it’s a gift offered to us now. With the risen Christ in our lives, we can be transformed and experience a new quality of life; a life in which we are assured of God’s love which can never be destroyed and which frees us from fear, anxiety and uncertainty about the future.

So, as Easter Day dawns, whatever has happened in your life during this past year, may you know the joy of Christ’s presence with you and join in the proclamation: Christ is risen. Alleluia!

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