God, it's Easter again!

Thank heavens Easter is celebrated this year in April, rather than in early March like it was last year. I'm reminded, however, of the words someone once wrote, 'We need spring. We need it desperately and, usually, we need it before God is willing to give it to us.'

Remember, too, the poem by Robert Browning:

Oh, to be in England
now that April's there,
and whoever wakes in England
sees, some morning, unaware,
that the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
while the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
in England -now!

And here's something to make you smile: A women's group were asked to bring eggs for an Easter service. The vicar explained, “As you enter the church, ladies, will you please lay your eggs before the pulpit.”

An ancient legend tells of a monk who found the crown of thorns that had encircled Jesus' head on the cross. It goes on to tell how this saintly man carried it into a church on Good Friday morning and set it upon the altar. The crown looked terrible, because it was rugged and stained with old blood. It was no wonder the congregation turned away from its ugliness. But it was a symbol of Good Friday. All the bad things of people's hearts which had crucified our Lord, all the physical terrors and spiritual torture through which Jesus had gone, were indicated in the crown of thorns that he wore.

Very early on Easter morning the monk hurried to the church to remove the symbol of suffering and death, for he knew it would be strangely out of place in the glory of Resurrection Day. Imagine his surprise, on entering, he found the church full of beauty.

At first all he saw was the sun shining through a window directly upon the altar where the thorns lay. But the crown of thorns had undergone a marvellous transformation; the whole thing had blossomed into roses with a delicate fragrance. The symbol of crucifixion and death had become the emblem of joy and life.

So, a joyful and meaningful Easter to you, now and always.