Pause for Thought April 2026
‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. (Luke 24: 5)
I wonder what the most unusual mode of transport you’ve ever used might be. A camel? A penny‑farthing? A hot‑air balloon? An elephant? A rocket?
However we travel, as a Christian community we are always on a journey. Over recent weeks we have journeyed through Lent, walked the way of the Cross, and during Holy Week retraced the final steps of Jesus’ earthly life. Journeys like these shape us. They change how we see the world — and often how we see ourselves.
In Holy Week, Jesus undertook the final journey that every human being must one day make: the journey from life to death. Yet what happened when he died was not the end. His humanity was not for nothing; his suffering had purpose; his mission had been fulfilled. God gathered up all that Jesus was, and all that he had said and done, and brought him back to himself. Fully human and fully God, Jesus’ journey did not end at the grave. He passed through death and broke its power. He was raised — not simply restored to life — but revealed as the risen Lord, standing before his disciples having known the full depths of human life.
The resurrection changes how journeys work. The disciples discover that they can no longer cling to Jesus as they once did. Resurrection does not return us to the past, or even to where we began. Instead, it opens a future shaped by God. Easter draws us onward, on a journey whose destination Christ has already gone before us to secure.
This same month, as we have accompanied Christ from the Cross to Resurrection, the world has witnessed another remarkable journey: that of the astronauts aboard Artemis II. Watching rockets lift from the earth forces us to look up. Such moments stretch our imaginations beyond familiar horizons and remind us that this world is not all there is.
Yet the Easter story points us somewhere deeper still. When Mary stood at the empty tomb, she was confronted with a truth that transformed everything: the Jesus she loved was not only a man from Nazareth, but the Lord of heaven and earth. The empty tomb became the meeting place between this world and the next.
Unlike a space mission, which only a few will ever experience, Easter’s invitation is offered to all. We are invited to look up — not only towards the skies, but towards the living Christ, who has passed through death and now draws us into God’s new life.
Easter changes our perspective forever. Death does not have the final word. The final word belongs to the risen Jesus — who opens the way from death to life.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Revd Alison