A Letter from Bishop Chris

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Rejoice! I say it again, rejoice!

The resurrection is God’s great ‘yes’ spoken over a world of graves, and nothing in heaven or earth can silence it.

In a world that is marked by endings (by loss, uncertainty, breakups, and death's looming shadow) the resurrection of Jesus Christ stands as God’s decisive answer. Not a whisper, but a proclamation: yes to life, yes to hope, yes to a future beyond the grave.

On the first Easter morning, the silence of the tomb was broken not by human effort, but by God’s power and initiative. The stone was rolled away, and with it every final word that death presumed to speak. The universe reverberated with hope as the angel declared, “He is not here; for he has been raised” (Matthew 28:6). And in that moment, the whole story of the world is changed.

The resurrection is not only about Jesus, it is about what God is saying to all creation. In raising Christ, God declares that sin does not have the last word, suffering does not have the last word, decay does not have the last word, and death itself does not have the last word. As St. Paul writes, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died” (1 Corinthians 15:20). His rising is the beginning of a harvest that includes us.

The Book of Revelation lifts our eyes even further. The risen Christ speaks: “I am the Living One. I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!” (Revelation 1:18). And because He lives, the future is no longer closed. The same voice promises, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

This is the hope we carry through Eastertide and beyond: that God’s “yes” in Christ echoes into every corner of our lives. Into grief, God speaks life. Into fear, God speaks love. Into anxiety, God speaks peace. Into chaos, God speaks a future.

Nothing can silence this “yes”—not the weight of the stone, not the power of empire, not even the finality of death. The risen Christ stands among us still, bearing the wounds of love and the victory of life, and calls us to live as people of the resurrection.

So we dare to believe, and to say with the Church in every age:
Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

Eastertide blessings,
+Chris