By Dave Bull, Rector at All Saints, Marlow.

 

Some stories never lose their power to captivate us. My children enjoy many of the same stories that I loved as a child.

As adults, we love to see familiar stories told in new ways, whether it’s the latest reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet, or the ancient story of Noah told on the big screen.

The Easter story possesses particular power. It is the most important moment in the whole story of the bible and therefore the most important celebration of the Christian year.

In it we remember the trial of Jesus Christ at the hands of the Romans. Although he had done nothing wrong, he was betrayed by a friend and brutally executed on Good Friday.

On Sunday morning, his friends visit his tomb and discover it is empty. Then he appears to them, risen from the dead.

This encounter changes their lives forever and a scattered band of grief-stricken mourners suddenly becomes a movement that changed the world.

The church in this country is reliving this old story today. Confidently pronounced dead not long ago, the church is confounding expectations and coming back to life.

All over the country, churches are growing as new life emerges from what seemed like a lost cause. Lives are being changed.

The power of the Easter story lies in the fact that we all need our lives renewed.

Each of us experiences death in some way – perhaps in the loss of a relationship, a job or a cherished dream. And each of us longs for the hope of resurrection, however impossible it may seem.

Two thousand years after the first Easter Sunday, God is still in the business of bringing life out of death and changing lives.

Why not visit your nearest church this weekend and discover it for yourself?