“Christ is Risen, Christ is Risen; Tell it with a joyful voice”
Having made our journey through Holy Week, commemorating the events of the Lord’s passion, death and burial we come now to Easter and the joy of His Glorious Resurrection.
Sunday by Sunday throughout the great festival of Easter, we take delight in hearing those stories of how the risen Lord appeared to so many — greeting and calling them by name, opening the scriptures and teaching them, breaking bread in their midst, bestowing his peace, breathing the Holy Spirit into their hearts and then sending them into all the world. Alongside these wonderful stories are accounts of the earliest Christian preaching recorded in The Acts of the Apostles.
In his book, Christ our Passover, Stephen Reynolds writes, “The first generation of the Church believed in the resurrection of Jesus because they found they could trust those who had seen the Lord Jesus after he rose from the dead … the proof of their testimony was the way they lived. For they staked their lives on the resurrection and acted accordingly.”
May this Easter be one in which as individuals and as the Church we renew our resolve to “stake our lives in the Resurrection,” to root our living more deeply in Christ, to trust his promises, to listen for his leading, and then to go at his calling, confident in his grace to equip us for every good work.
As we seek our own renewal in the risen Lord, let us remember our brothers and sisters throughout the world particularly those who face persecution for their faith in Christ. In the spirit of our deepening relationship with the Diocese of Jerusalem, let us pray especially for Bishop Suheil Dawani and all other Christian leaders in Jerusalem giving thanks for their steadfast witness to the Gospel and that of the people they serve.
With my own prayers for a blessed Easter,
I am,
Sincerely in Christ,
Fred J. Hiltz
Archbishop and Primate
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