Do I have to go back to work in the morning? The Easter holiday might have passed by almost unnoticed in the general closing down of everything, one quiet day leading into the next, but Easter stands alone as the centrepoint of the Christian calendar.
We have had the services on-line, and Songs of Praise, and all is filled with the central Christian message, the Gospel coming to this point, of redemption by sacrifice and glorious resurrection giving continuance to the redemptive enterprise. You could avoid all this over Easter, looking only at chocolate eggs and films on the telly, but what a shame that would be.
There is such a difference between Easter and Christmas. For many, the only time Christian themes break into the consciousness is at Christmas, when a narrative is presented by tiny children with Jesus a helpless babe in a manger – and this presentation seems designed determinedly to keep him there. At Easter there is no keeping the baby in a cradle – he has grown, thriven, taught, healed, inspired and given his all for all. Keep him is his cradle? He cannot even be kept in his grave.
Work begins again in the morning, mostly working from home, but working. Those on-line services are still with me, full of joy and the message repeated through the familiar words spoken by familiar and unfamiliar preachers. Easter is not a moment that has passed. Easter is about a new beginning that continues forever, so after this message the rest of the year cannot be unchanged.
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