In springtime, across the churchyards of the Epping Forest and Ongar Deanery the daffodils are blooming and in the forest itself the trees are waking from their winter slumber.
From the bare branches new green leaves are beginning to unfurl, there are new beginnings everywhere around us.
But at the same time, not only in the nations surrounding Iran, wars are raging, and pain and suffering scars both human beings and the whole created world.
The man of history, Jesus Christ, shared in the experience of living for a season in such a broken world.
The manner of his death attested both in the accounts of his life in the pages of the Bible, and in other sources, was particularly brutal.
And yet, surprisingly when people went to the tomb on the third, they did not find things as expected, instead the text of Mark’s Gospel tells of a messenger who said to them: “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth … He has been raised, he is not here” (Mark 16.6).
It is this event which Christians will be gathering to celebrate in a few weeks time on Easter Day, which this year falls on April 5.
This festival is for the whole church the ultimate celebration of new life as Christians celebrate their belief that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, dies no more and opens the door that people may know God personally both now and always.
Christian faith and hope makes sense only because of belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus, something the apostle Paul wrote to an early church about: “If Jesus has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15.14).
The faith teaches us that like the new life springing up from the bleak winter year after year, so new life sprung from the tomb and Jesus conquered death, then surely he is able to teach his fellow human beings the way to join him in experiencing eternal life.
It is understandable and arguably logical to question the reality of the Christian claims about Jesus, and yet as many historians of the period note, there is more substantial evidence to the resurrection of Jesus having taken place than many other well attested and undoubted events from ancient history.
After Jesus’ death his body was laid in a tomb, which was not in the ground, but was a cavern with a large stone rolled across the entrance.
Easter eggs as well as being symbolic of the beginning of life, can serve as reminders of that stone which on Easter morning was found to have been rolled away.
In the ever changing and increasingly uncertain world each of us finds ourselves in, why not give church a try and see what all the Easter fuss is about this year?
- Rev John Fry is the team rector of the Epping District Team Ministry and area dean of Epping Forest and Ongar.
