WHAT we make of Easter determines what we make of Christianity. It might be thought that Christmas is the high point of the Christian year, but for believers who are settled on the identity of Jesus, Easter is the thing.
On Good Friday, Jesus died. On Easter Sunday, he rose again. Think of the order of events, for this spells out why Easter matters more than anything to Christians. We live, and then die - but Christ died, and then lived.
This reversal of the natural order which Christians celebrate with their call and response - "Christ is risen; He is risen indeed" - describe much more than a remarkable moment in history.
These words give us a glimpse of the world working in a wholly different way, where the laws of physics don't quite cut it, and the principles of biology hang like half-completed portraits on the wall.
What those first witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus saw, was the first day of a new creation - the opening credits to God's blockbuster story: 'Coming soon near you - Heaven and Earth like you've never seen them before.'
Rt Rev Dr David Bruce
Moderator
Presbyterian Church in Ireland
