The Chocolate has mostly been eaten.

We have seen the sun at last and gained an extra hour of daylight. This Lent has been especially difficult for me as I returned to America three times to be with my Father in his illness and eventual death a few weeks ago.

Lent mirrors Jesus’ time in the wilderness and I have certainly felt at sea. Yet it has been during this time of great distress that the spirit of God has shown itself to so strongly through those around me.

There is so much more to human beings than the mechanics of flesh and bone. Human spirits unique and lovely surround me held together by God’s one all encompassing spirit. The memories of my Father will be one part of his legacy. The Christian’s fundamental belief that Jesus died on the cross for us, yet is alive again not only gives us hope, but is also real in the spirit’s of those we love, but see no longer.

If one afternoon you were to sit on the right hand side of the last row of chairs – just in front of the welcome desk in the cathedral on a sunny day – look up. There above the altar you will be amazed at the pattern of coloured light shining in from the stained glass giving the flat, white surface life.

These ‘spirits’ ebbing and flowing are held by the arms and wings of the risen Christ hovering above the altar. It is both an image and a reality. The Easter message is clear. God made man suffered as we suffer and died as we too must die. Yet, the promise of Easter is that the risen Christ gathers each one of us in his arms and all of our spirits shine perpetually in memory and reality.

Happy Easter!

Canon Shannon Ledbetter