The Dean of Blackburn, Christopher Armstrong, considers the changes which faith brings on the threshold of Easter - including champagne!

Have you any idea what it's like at the graveside? It is horrid - perhaps the worst place on earth.

Such places can be found at the centre of our towns and in the lives of ordinary folk up and down the land.

My last visit to the graveside was at Accrington just after Christmas.

The desolation was compounded by the fact that the grave was liable to subside due to the sodden ground conditions.

It's an unwelcome place, a place to escape from.

I mention this because the Cathedral has now become a tomb.

Yesterday, Good Friday, we commemorated the death of Jesus on a cross.

His family and friends kept watch for a short time then the body was removed and buried in a tomb.

Today, Christians cannot worship.

The inside of the cathedral has been stripped bare and it will be 48 hours before life returns to that normally busy building.

Instead, it is like a graveyard and people tiptoe around.

Now for some of our bloggers and for many others who haven't a clue about church life, most churches might be associated with tombs.

That is light years away from reality.

As governments local and national wring their hands for ways to re-create society in our atomistic culture, there are very few centres of community around: the pub is one; the church is another.

Our cathedral is usually buzzing with activity but today it is as silent as the grave.

We wonder - with those first followers of Christ - whether our hero is victim or victor.

Certainly the heavy wrought-ironwork which hangs above the altar looks more like crown of thorns than crown of glory.

It feels like it too, if you are in the habit of standing underneath it.

As the priest-poet R.S.Thomas says in his poem, The Empty Church':

"Why, then, do I kneel still
striking my prayers on a stone heart?"

What happened then to change all this?

It's a penetrating question that has tantalised generations of folk and it is one which Notradamous asked in his comment on 17 March.

For Christians and for many others who cannot claim to be touched by faith, there are a number of answers:

1. The grave was empty; the body has not been found.
2. Jesus' disciples had a complete change of heart. Having been scared stiff after the crucifixion, they encountered something in the upper room which they understood to be the Risen Lord and made them very bold indeed.
3. There are the other resurrection appearances: on the road to Emmaus, in the garden to Mary, in a variety of other places, all apparently unconnected.
4. The existence of the Church today.

Things have changed. Is it just attitude - Is the glass half full or half empty? - or has something external touched the cynical and scared to change them?

Surely it is both - and we call it faith. The death of a young rebel on a cross now leads to a different sort of life for those who come into contact with him and his tradition.

The tomb becomes a womb, giving birth to new life, life that is changed not taken away.

The Crown of thorns which dominated the internal architecture of Blackburn Cathedral now can be seen as crown of glory.

The victim is now victor: he has conquered death!

Now all this can be dismissed as mumbo-jumbo church-speak - and so it is. It is a different language for a new life.

But let me share with you some old-speak' which may ring a bell.

Yesterday I had a phone call from an angry man whose dad had just died.

His dad was a churchgoer and the son had been trying to contact a priest at the cathedral to visit his dad in hospital.

The message had not got through and the man was understandably upset.

I apologised profusely and promised to make some enquiries about the incident.

As it happened, one of my colleagues had got the message and had visited the sick man twice in hospital.

Both times he had found him asleep so prayers were said by the bedside.

The family were unaware. Once this was explained the family were relieved.

They saw Christ in a different light. Things had changed.

I share this with you as an example of the Risen Lord working quietly in the new dispensation of the resurrection.

The scaffolding of the Spirit is often internal, hidden but nevertheless real.

It is this change in the quality of life which faith brings and faith is generated by these encounters with the Christ beyond the graveside.

Our Lenten blog has given myself and my colleagues a chance to illustrate our longing for a greater understanding of these works of God as we endure lent and strain towards the new life which Easter brings.

May I take this opportunity of thanking my fellow bloggers and all those whom they have provoked through this blog?

Thanks especially to the Lancashire Telegraph for their generous hospitality.

May I end with a challenge: to our friends at Radio Lancashire. Why not catch the spirit of this blog and create a radio-blog for Ramadan or Lent next year?

And don't worry archdeacon. You'll get your champagne!