FOR many people, Easter brings thoughts of eggs and bunnies, often enjoyed in the form of chocolate. Spring is a time of new life, and these things are lovely symbols of that. The Christian celebration of Easter is of course also about new life in the most radical way. Jesus came to earth to confront the worst of the world’s evil by dying on the Cross, on what we now call Good Friday. When he died, those who hoped to silence him forever thought that they had won, but early on the Sunday morning he triumphed over death, and came out of the tomb, to the joy and amazement of his friends. When we experience the joy of the Resurrection on Easter morning, it is in the knowledge that Jesus’s sacrifice has given us the gift of eternal life. Sooner or later, our bodies will die but, because of the events that we celebrate this weekend, we have the promise that this is not the end but the beginning.

Rev Canon Frances Wookey, Vicar of Hanley Castle with Hanley Swan and Welland

Priest-in-Charge of Upton-upon-Severn & The Hook, Ripple and Earls Croome with Hill Croome & Strensham