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From the Deacon’s Bench - Easter 2026
By Canon Ken

Easter is the most important day in the Christian calendar. There are so many different days in the calendar that celebrate and remember so many things. There is the birth of Jesus at Christmas, the baptism of Jesus, a celebration of all saints, and days when we celebrate the lives of individual saints such as St. Francis. Our church calendar is full when you look at all the days designated for attention. But Easter is the one that the Church puts at the top of the list.

Easter comes at the end of Lent, that period on the calendar during which we are focussed on reflection. We focus on prayer, reading, contemplating our faith and relationship with God. Maybe we read something new that allowed us to see our faith in a different light. Maybe we experienced something that allowed us to appreciate what God has provided in this world. What should Easter mean for us? That we grasp how Jesus was the Son of God, that he was crucified by the Roman authorities at the behest of the Jewish leaders for
no valid reason, and that he rose again from the dead. His teachings were more than platitudes from a prophet. His teachings were lessons from God about life. What he told those who followed him opened the door to living life closer to God and closer to those around us. Easter is a time for hope and new life, a new life in our relationship with God and hope that this world can be a better place for all of God’s children.

Is the world a better place for God’s children in 2026 than it was in 2025? It doesn’t seem that way. But growth comes individually, not collectively. Growth in the way we walk with God is something that happens with an individual. If there is sufficient growth in enough individuals, then there is a chance that life will improve for the collective. If enough people could forgive their enemies as Jesus taught, maybe there would be fewer wars. If enough people incorporated action into faith as outlined in the Letter from James, maybe
there would be fewer people starving and living in poverty. If only we were enough.

Easter is a time of hope for the future. With Jesus at our side, some day there will be a much better world that will be a joy and its people will be a delight. Grab hold of the hope and let it fuel how we live in the world about us.

What’s Water?
Do you ever speculate what two goldfish in a bowl might say to one another, as they go round and round in something of what can only be described as a small space? Probably not. However, when I saw this picture, it did makes me wonder if this particular question, “What’s water?” might ever come up?

The humour of the image is that the fish are completely surrounded by the very thing they are questioning.

In an Easter sense, the image reminds us that resurrection life and God’s grace can be like that water. We live within it. We are sustained by it, yet we often fail to notice it. The Season of Easter asks us to open our eyes to what has been true all around us, all along: that God’s love, hope, and new life are already surrounding us, holding us up even when we don’t recognize it. Like the fish discovering water, the Easter season invites us to notice the life of the risen Christ already present in the ordinary moments of our days,
quietly sustaining us, giving us breath, and calling us into new life.