Revd Sara's Reflections - Easter Day - 9th April 2023

Revd Sara’s Easter Sunday Reflections Christ is living and active, walking with us every step of the way, guiding our actions, aiding our prayers. As the prayer from the Outer Hebrides puts it,

My walk this day with God, My walk this day with Christ, My walk this day with Spirit, The Threefold all-kindly: Ho! Ho! Ho! The Threefold all-kindly.

The living Lord is constantly with us, in every moment, every detail. Christ is with us, his resurrected life suffuses our own, breaking through when we are at our weakest. Easter Sunday offers us a vision of creation and resurrection in which there is no separation of the two. Following the great hymn found in the first chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, these prayers remind us that “in Christ all things hold together.” (Col. 1:18, NRSV) All that has been created is also redeemed. All that is in existence is held in the life of the Trinity, held in an eternal movement of love. In other words, the whole universe is in Christ. The whole universe is with Christ. Since the universe is in Christ, every part of that universe participates in the pattern of dying and rising that Holy Week and Easter form in us. In Welsh, the ordinary word for universe is “bydysawd,” which means “that which is baptized.” All that has come into being--every particle of matter, every creature, every person, every star and planet—is encompassed in the pattern of Christ’s dying and rising. This is not completely new to us. At the Easter vigil, we kindle the Easter fire and prepare to baptize new Christians. Then we speak of Christ as “he who gives his light to all creation.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 287) The Celtic Church, following the teachings of the early councils of the church, understood that this all encompassing, uncreated Light of Christ, the Light that breaks into the tombs of our hearts and the graves of our bodies, is eternally present in all times and in all places.

A poem by Welsh poet, Saunders Lewis. Cherish the dark’s obscurity Look for the diamonds in debris, Thank God for all His mystery And LIVE.

We have shared a wonderful time of fellowship during Lent and the Holy Week pilgrimage with our daily 2pm at Brackley and 630pm at Silverstone reflections and gathering together. A time of fellowship, learning, being moved by the Spirit and responding to God’s call.

May the reality of the Resurrection be with you today

With love and prayers Revd Sara Easter Sunday 2023