In this exile for the past two years and in this fast, everything that challenges our world and everything that we depended on to sustain our Christian life was suspended, but Christ remained. His love endured.
There we were, on our own, cut off in the upper rooms of our homes and unable to go to church, and Christ found us.
I see this in Craigie Aitchison’s images of the isolated Christ, who comes to us in our isolation, showing us that we don’t actually need anything else, and that in the end all the things we enjoy – material blessings, other people, the worship and comfort of the church, the sacraments themselves – all of them will cease.
Or to put it another way; He is Risen. This is the great Easter hope. In his dying and rising, we find our identity as those who are redeemed and restored by Christ. We find ourselves within the life of the God who now bears the scars of passion.
Or rather, Christ finds us. He comes to us, as he came to Mary Magdalene, and he asks why we’re crying and who we’re looking for.
He has returned to take us with him. Like Mary and like Elizabeth who will be baptised in just a moment, He know us by name. He shows us what really matters.
We greet the risen Lord with joy, proclaiming Alleluia, Christ is risen, he is risen indeed! To read my Easter Day sermon @York_Minster https://t.co/GaxGi4QQ8B
— Stephen Cottrell (@CottrellStephen) April 17, 2022