Column: The Dean of Ripon's monthly reflection with the Very Reverend John Dobson - Wishing you all a very Happy Easter

​It all happened because last week local school children led an act of worship in the cathedral that took us through the deeply moving events from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to his Last Supper, his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the trial before Pilot and his heart-breaking crucifixion, and then to the joy and triumph of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Day. It seemed only fitting, as they and their parents streamed out through the west door, to wish them a very happy Easter.

Happy Easter! is a greeting I think we can all benefit from hearing. It is possible because of the suffering which Jesus endured, and it speaks with genuine meaning and hope to the many ways in which people struggle with suffering and trials today. It is not wishful thinking or escapism, but a sincere statement of faith and hope, offered humbly to a needy world. Happy Easter! shares the profound belief that through Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, God’s love has the power to conquer all the life-spoiling and life-destroying forces that threaten us.

It doesn’t take much imagination to understand why some people find such a faith improbable. Even for the most cheerful and positive of us, life can sometimes be a challenge, with little sense of our trials being conquerable. And even if life seems pretty good for us personally, the suffering elsewhere in the world might make us question how there can be a loving God who has conquered death.

The most fortunate and blessed of us don’t have to listen to the news for very long before being saddened by the appalling ways in which many people suffer; life is quite literally hell for millions. I hardly need to mention war in Ukraine, the impact of earthquakes and other natural disasters, the risks taken by asylum seekers, higher terrorism alerts in Northern Ireland, yet more school deaths in America, and much more. Can we really say, ‘Happy Easter!’?

The events we commemorate and celebrate over these next few days encourage us to believe we can. With the self-sacrificing love shown by Jesus on the cross, and the quiet, humble way in which the resurrection took place, God invites us to see that ultimately his love will not fail us, neither in this life nor the next.

And Easter also invites us to enjoy the life of heaven now, for our own benefit and that of others. As a hymn by GW Briggs has us sing,

‘Now is eternal life, if risen with Christ we stand,

in him to life reborn, and holden in his hand;

no more we fear death’s ancient dread, in Christ arisen from the dead.’

Accepting that Christ is risen from the dead helps us to face life’s challenges with hope and even joy. It also encourages us to be the ones through whom others may become more convinced that there is a good God whose love for them is unconquerable.

Please, do join us at Ripon Cathedral, or your local church, for worship over these coming days.

I wish you a very Happy Easter!