A living hope– the resurrection

Bishop Richard asks – ‘What could be considered “a higher or more pressing claim” than someone’s own life? The answer is: the life of one you love.

We gladly make sacrifices for the ones we love. We do it in small ways every day, and from time to time, in much bigger ways, even with our lives. The story of Easter begins with costly loving sacrifice, where because of “the higher or more pressing claim” of your life and mine, Jesus lays down his life for others in love.

He dies so that we might be forgiven and live in freedom. Then on Easter morning he lives to show his triumph over death. His sacrifice produces hope. Hope in the face of despair and brokenness, and even death; that someone has gone before to secure our tomorrow.

We are a resurrection people. Easter reminds us that God has new life for us, and calls us into that resurrection life now. That is the basis for our confidence. God has defeated death, the greatest enemy and so we can step out confidently with him. I don’t know about you, but I find this immensely exciting’.

In these sessions Richard will unpack the great truths Paul sets out in the classic resurrection passage of the New Testament— 1 Corinthians 15, and then consider what this means in our ‘day to day’ lives and the implications for mission in our world today.