Sermon Easter Sunday 2026

Risen Lord Jesus, come and meet us today, take away our fear and increase our joy. Amen. 

That’s our money easily made, the guards thought. Guarding a dead man! Yes, yes, he seems to have been quite special, and the priests said that his friends may come and steal his body – well, ever since we arrested him on Thursday night, we haven’t seen any of his friends anywhere except for a couple of women standing at a great distance, so I think we’ll be alright with his friends… In any case, let them try!

Weren’t they in for the surprise of their lifetimes!

An earthquake. An angel with an appearance like lightning and the guards get so afraid, they shake and become like dead men.

It’s quite different for the women. They too are afraid. But joy soon overtakes their fear – though notice both the angel and Jesus encourage them to not be afraid – yet they speed away from the empty tomb with fear and great joy.

I wonder this morning, as we have come to meet our risen Lord, whether our joy is greater than our fear, or whether our fear is greater than our joy.

Perhaps subconsciously, for many of us our fear of the risen Lord is greater than our joy. What else would explain why we get on with our lives so easily in things of this world, our hobbies, our careers, our bits of fun and entertainment, and many of us have had – reluctantly – to accept that death is simply a fate that awaits us all and we better get on with it and try not to think about it too much.

But the Risen Christ who comes to meet us this morning shows us a different path, that is scary in its own way. 

Some of you know that in my time in Cranleigh I have been on a bit of a campaign to encourage people to appreciate the Apostle Paul a little more.

True, he is a bit grumpy and often frustrated and he’s got a bit of a bad reputation, but in our first reading, we find the key to why he is sometimes a bit grumpy.

You have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died. You have been raised. You have a new life. Don’t keep going back to the old one!

If you believe in the risen Christ – and that you’re here this morning suggests you do –  I’ve got some bad news for you: You have already died! In baptism and faith you have been crucified and buried with Christ. Your old self no longer exists!

But there’s some great news as well. You have also been raised with Christ. You have a new life. Don’t cling to the old things, don’t cling to the distractions of this world, don’t cling to the expectations of your friends or of society around you, the number of sports and after school clubs your children have to be in, the number and length of holidays, the amount of followers, likes, or friends on our social media accounts, the size of our house or, dare I say here, even the state of your garden. We can do it all differently. Live that new risen life of Jesus, the life of heaven.

That’s scary. It requires an act of faith to break with the expectations of a good Surrey life. But it’s always been scary. Jesus has to tell them again and again, do not be afraid. Be of good courage. I have already won the victory. I will send you the Holy Spirit who will be my presence and power with you. Trust me, all shall be well.

And yet, this is hard. The day after Easter we’re back in our normal routine. And it’s always been that way. It’s why Paul sometime appears so grumpy: it’s like he wants to shout at people: you have died and been raised. You have new lives. Why do you keep yourselves being dragged down by all the old things? Why?

I’ve found it helpful to realise every Sunday is an Easter celebration. Every Sunday we gather together as the early Christians did on the day Jesus was raised, and we get together to meet our risen Lord, as He comes to us when we gather as his community, every Sunday we confess our sins – we say sorry for all those things that we’ve got distracted by in our call to love God above all and our neighbours as ourselves. We meet Him as we listen to the Bible and have it explained. We make peace with each other – as we will do in a few moments. And we receive his new and risen life in the bread and wine of Holy Communion – His Body and Blood. And then we’re sent out into the world, to be God’s new people once again. Who live out that their old lives are gone, and that new and risen lives in Jesus Christ have begun.

If we can remember to recharge our mobile phones every single night, why do we so often think our souls will be alright without recharging?

If you’d like to explore more about our Easter faith – there are cards in every pew to sign up for a little class we’re going to have to explore the Apostles’ Creed – that we will say in a few moments, which has been said to confess their faith by Christians in the last 1800 years. And if you’d like to be part of this, be baptised or confirmed, or if you’ve been baptised and/or confirmed already, maybe even a long time ago but would like to discover it afresh, please do sign up. In a great act of Easter faith, we’ve printed 100 cards, please take one and fill it out, and hand it in at the office or to me, or pass it on to someone who you think might be interested. I’d love it for all cards to have disappeared after this morning’s service.

You have been raised with Christ, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.  

Let’s pray once again that prayer with which I started:

Risen Lord Jesus, come and meet us today, take away our fear and increase our joy. Amen.