• 12 April 2017

Bishop Harold’s Easter Message

Good Friday and Easter can so easily be missed nowadays by those who are not regular church goers but these days are at the heart of the Christian faith. For believers, the physical death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ transform everything. They declare that God has found a way to restore our relationship with him, through the forgiveness of sins and that new life is possible through Christ, even in the most impossible of circumstances.

So, for those who were martyred in Egypt this Palm Sunday, death is not the end. They share in the resurrection of Jesus for eternity. For those who are terminally ill, knowing Jesus and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings makes this year their Good Friday and Easter Day.

Might we even imagine, in a place with so many who claim to be Christ followers, that just  as on that Good Friday 19 years ago, amazing things happened in the Belfast agreement, so now in 2017 the painful political process continuing after Easter might actually lead to a new chapter– of restored, joyful and sacrificial relationship here in Northern Ireland.

Have a truly godly Good Friday and Easter Day.

+Harold
Down & Dromore