Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Today we hear that acclamation of hope and joy, proclaimed on Easter morning in churches all over the world. The waiting is over; we celebrate again being a resurrection people, after our journey through Lent and Holy Week.
What I love about the post-Easter stories in the Gospel, however, is that they are a very real mix of human emotion: yes, there is joy and new hope, but this often sits alongside or is found only after grief, disbelief, fear, doubt and confusion. Somehow I find that reassuring. It seems to reflect the reality of our journey of faith more than any stories of straightforward recognition and happiness could. For most of us, learning to recognise the risen Christ in the context of our own lives is a life-long process – learning what death and resurrection feel like in our own experience and learning the difference between those things that really do give us a fullness of life and which are just empty promises and false hopes…
