Love is infinitely greater than fear; goodness infinitely greater than evil. That is the Easter truth, the result of Jesus’ resurrection. It will always be true and it shapes how we face and challenge fear and evil in our world. The terrible events of yesterday in Brussels have left us shocked. As the news of the terrorist attacks began to spread around the world an outpouring began ­ social media erupted with millions of people, all over the world, calling to #PrayforBrussels. In times of tragedy prayer is our instinctive response, prayer to the One who has overcome evil and fear by the power of goodness and love. It is by that same power that the people of Brussels are defying the perpetrators of evil and fear by standing in solidarity with one another and starting to rebuild shattered lives. I know you will join me to continue to pray for Brussels, and Ankara, Istanbul, Baghdad, northern Nigeria and all places around the world that have been victims of indiscriminate deadly violence. And pray that by God’s grace we can be active agents of his goodness and love as we face evil and fear wherever it appears.

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"He is not here; for he has been raised..."

How do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? It is a central tenet of our faith, and without it Christianity would not exist. As Paul writes, '...if Christ has not been raised... your faith is in vain' (1 Corinthians 15:14). But coming to believe it and believe in it is not easy in Printable Version faith is in vain' (1 Corinthians 15:14). But coming to believe it and believe in it is not easy in our rationalistic society where we demand proof. Of course, it would not be faith if we had proof ­ but I suspect most of us need some help along the way to enable the resurrection be what it is ­ the foundation of our faith. I remember quite vividly when I was a teenager, the Vicar of the church I attended preaching on the Sunday after Easter about Jesus’ resurrection. You would expect sermons about resurrection at Easter ­ but this one was different. He spoke about his brother being killed in India during the Second World War, and of his own mother’s death. When his brother died, even though they were nearly 5,000 miles apart, he said he somehow knew what had happened, at the very moment his brother lost his life. When his mother died, something similar happened – he knew she had died, even though he wasn’t with her. Both of these instances were convincing experiences of Jesus’ resurrection for him, moments of truth. Somehow he knew that his brother and mother had not gone forever, but had moved into a life beyond death, making Jesus’ resurrection real for him. But just as the Vicar was completely persuaded of Jesus’ resurrection by these momentary experiences, so we, the congregation, were drawn into this conviction, persuaded by his faith. We were caught up in a cascade of conviction, which I presume is why he shared these stories, and why I remember it so vividly nearly 50 years later. Experience, and the witness of others to that experience, help us on the way to faith. So it was a few years later, when I was about 20, I was walking down St Andrew’s Street in Cambridge, and in an intense moment I suddenly realised, without warning, that Jesus, risen from the dead, was as physically real as the man who at that instant was walking towards me. I was not aware that I had been thinking about what the resurrection was like, or in what sense I believed it, but from then on I knew ­ for me ­ it was real. Religious experiences like these ­ I think of them as mystical moments ­ are not unusual, though it is unclear why some people seem to have them and others don’t. They are also very powerful because nothing is quite the same again. They are moments that turn a person’s life around, turn it on its head. They determine how we live our lives. Since that moment walking down the street over 40 years ago, I have never doubted that Jesus rose from the dead, and was experienced physically, not just spiritually or emotionally, by his followers. I’ve alluded to the other plank for me in my faith in the resurrection ­ how else do we explain the disciples’ behaviour after Jesus’ appearances? It is not proof, but it does seem to me hard to explain without something profound enough happening that they were willing to give up their lives. So how do you believe in the resurrection? Experience? The witness of others in the Christian community? Thinking through the evidence? When we look, of course, all these are there in the New Testament. God by the Holy Spirit has given the Church all that is needed to believe. For Sunday: Happy Easter!

Bishop Mike (February 2016)