We shall proclaim this joyfully on Easter Day and it will be echoed in our readings, prayers and liturgy on the succeeding Sundays.
Indeed, the Church regards every Sunday as a little Easter. When we gather on the first day of the week, we are witnesses to the tremendous news "He is risen!" On that first Easter day the disciples were gathered together, fearful and dejected. Perhaps some had glimmers of hope, remembering what Jesus had said about being raised on the third day. More likely, however, the events of Good Friday had driven such thoughts from their minds.
On the first day of the week, we too gather. Perhaps sometimes our emotions will be like those of the disciples - distraught, anxious, exhausted. Perhaps we come with some memories, both good and bad. Perhaps too we will come with glimmers of hope. Like the disciples, we come simply to be together - to be with others who have gone through similar experiences.
When the disciples were gathered, some women burst into the room and shouted out an impossible message: "He is risen! He is risen!" Impossible? It turned out to be true after all and, later that day, the risen Jesus was present with them. Not once and on that day only but several times - on the road to Emmaus, by the lakeside and so on.
We too gather and that impossible message comes bursting in. An impossible message for us? A piece of news 2000 years old? By no means. We each bring a whole range of experiences and emotions along with us on any particular Sunday. In our worship these are brought within the orbit of God's transforming love. After confessing our sins, we are given the assurance that God will keep us in eternal life; in the sacrament of the altar we become participants in the sign that "the living bread is broken for the life of the world" (in the words of the Scottish Liturgy) and as we receive the Lord we are fed and we are given the assurance that"we shall be healed".
As we gather to experience these life-giving events, our risen Lord is present with us and we lift up our hearts, as he lifted up those of his first followers.
May you know God's gift of new life this Easter and always.
Peter