The Bishop of St Asaph has issued an Easter Message with an encouragement that Easter promises “new life.”

Bishop Gregory Cameron who illustrates his message with images of a Magnolia Tree coming into flower in his garden, says: “That reliable sign of new life every Spring is for me a sign of the reliability of the love of God in creation.”

This year, for the second time church services for Holy Week and Easter are disrupted by Coronavirus. Many churches remain closed for public worship and services are taking place on-line.

A full programme of services through Holy Week to Easter is available via the Diocese of St Asaph website: https://dioceseofstasaph.org.uk/lent-holy-week-and-easter/

In his message, Bishop Gregory says: “… the promise of God at Easter is there will be new life. There will be new beginnings, and with the help of God, we can build into a fullness of new life, finding new ways to serve our communities, new ways to enter into the joys of life, new ways to celebrate the new life into which God invites us.”

The Bishop of St Asaph is pastorally responsible for more than 200 churches and congregations and 51 church schools in north east and mid Wales. He is one of the six bishops of the Church in Wales, which is an independent Province of the world-wide Anglican Communion.

Easter Message from the Bishop of St Asaph, Gregory Cameron

Near the entrance of Esgobty [Bishop’s house] there is the most magnificent Magnolia tree. Around this time of year it is particularly exciting as the green buds begin to blossom and the white flowers begin to peep through. In a few weeks’ time the whole tree will be covered in white blossom, beautiful and startling. Then the flowers will drop away and we’ll be waiting for next year.

That reliable sign of new life every Spring is for me a sign of the reliability of the love of God in creation. More than this, every Spring we remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ: he who was crucified yet who, in Christian faith, rose again, conquering the powers of sadness and of death.

That theme of new life is particularly important for us this year. This time last year we were just entering into lockdown. We had no idea that a year later we would still be faced with the challenges of Coronavirus.

In this last year a lot will have changed. People have died. People have struggled. The whole of society has had to work very hard, cooperating in order to bring us through the crisis.

But the promise of God at Easter is there will be new life. There will be new beginnings, and with the help of God, we can build into a fullness of new life, finding new ways to serve our communities, new ways to enter into the joys of life, new ways to celebrate the new life into which God invites us.