Bishop Mary's Easter Message 2026

Something new seems to be happening in communities where I live. Perhaps I’ve just never noticed before, but this year alongside the spring flowers pushing through the soil, I‘ve spotted many places where people are putting up Easter decorations.

There are signs proclaiming “Happy Easter!” Large inflatable bunnies bob around in the wind, there are of eggs on display, some with chicks hatching out of them. All these tell a bright message of joy and new life.

I wonder if people want signs of hope and new life, because the terrible conflicts raging in our world and the large challenges of our times speak loudly of the opposite?

There’s a longing for peace and an end to injustice, poverty and the destruction of creation, but also much fear that hope and good news feel distant, and are hard to discover.

Into this situation the Christian message of Easter offers news that meets this struggle with great seriousness.

The story of new life and resurrection that we encounter in the Gospels also speak into a real situation of grief, sadness, and fear.

I think the Christian story of Easter is compelling because it unfolds so simply and starkly. Early on a Sunday morning, after the pain and chaos of the crucifixion, a small group of Jesus‘s friends go to his tomb, expecting to weep over his broken body. Instead, to their utter amazement, they discovered an empty tomb, the risen Jesus, and they glimpsed God‘s life-giving truth that tells the amazing news of the love that never dies.

This is a message our world needs to hear. It echoes what creation seems to know already: Just as dawn always follows the darkness of night, and spring comes after winter so the wonderful news of Easter tells that God’s love is everlasting. Evil, suffering and death will never have the last word. God’s love is everlasting and will never be overcome. This is great news indeed. A wonderful reason to celebrate.

Pasg hapus! Happy Easter!