The Bishop of Southwark, The Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, offers this message for the season of Easter:
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
So we give thanks for Christ’s victory over death and suffering, and for the hope we have been given by the Resurrection. Across the diocese we have walked with Jesus to the Cross as the culmination of our Lenten journey, and our parishes and communities of faith have entered into Christ’s Passion.
In equal measure across the diocese we rejoice today that the Cross is not the end, that God gives us new life and purpose in the risen Lord. I give thanks for the many blessings of our life together in this wonderful diocese.
So today we rejoice. And yet the Resurrection does not take suffering away. Christ’s hands are marked by the nails that held him to the Cross, and his side bears the wound of the spear. Our Christian faith holds sorrow and joy together. The Resurrection allows us to come alongside those in war or other kinds of disaster, and wait in the desolation with them at the foot of the Cross. We also bring our own suffering to the foot of the Cross. And yet the empty tomb gives us strength and joy, which we need to live life in all its fullness.
Through prayer, even when we feel helpless, each intention, each supplication transforms the world around us. So this Eastertide, I encourage you to continue to pray for peace and especially for Christians in the Holy Land. We pray for their protection and for the wellbeing of their neighbours, Jewish and Muslim. We pray that Christians should have continued access to the holy places in Jerusalem and elsewhere, and the freedom to worship.
We pray for our partner Diocese of Jerusalem and for the strengthening of our links there and in Zimbabwe and in Barbados. We give thanks, my brothers and sisters, and we rejoice, for Christ is risen and we have hope. We know that God has not forsaken us and will, through Christ, bring to completion his plan for the fullness of time to gather up all things in him, things in heaven, things on earth.
I wish you and those who love a blessed Eastertide and great joy.
