Episcopal Letter for Easter

We have received the bishop's Easter Letter to the diocese.

If you wish to download the letter as a PDF, it is attached below. The text of the letter is:

The Lord is risen! Indeed, the Lord is risen.

Christian Disciples gather pondering the events of the last week: all that led to Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection. They gather as a community of disciples because they have alarming stories to tell, they gather because that is what Jesus taught them to do. Jesus does not simply intend the disciples to do nothing as he has instructed them to wait, rather He desires them to take the first steps to inhabit His post-resurrection Body. He knows them, and he knows that given enough time they will certainly talk about their post crucifixion experiences.

Ours are the days when Mary exclaims, “I have seen the Lord”, and we listen to her account. We gathered today to hear Peter’s and the Beloved Disciple’s reckoning of the empty tomb. We gather now to share our alarming story of encountering the living Christ at the seaside, near Emmaus, in Ikea, on the sidewalk, and with our next-door neighbour.

Today our shared stories and experiences weave into that of the risen Lord, living expressions of the Gospel. What I might consider inconsequential in my story may very well be that which adds clarity to yours, and vis-versa. Easter and waiting are gifts of God for the Church to learn to tell the story of the risen Christ with vivid and compelling language. May you be excited by the story your fellow disciples share, may your story be heard, and may you make space for a brilliant celebration of story in the ministry with which you participate.

May the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.