Bishop of Salisbury shares Easter message
The Right Reverend Stephen Lake has wished us all a happy Easter
Last updated 10th Apr 2024
The Bishop of Salisbury has wished the city and the wider community a happy Easter.
The Christian holiday, which remembers the story of Jesus' death on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday, is the most important week of the year for those who follow Christ.
Thousands of people will be visiting Salisbury Cathedral today (Sunday 31st March) for the Easter Day services.
The morning service marking Jesus's resurrection is at 4.00am, while the Eucharist with Blessing of the Easter Garden at 10:30am.
Easter is more than chocolate eggs, or is it?
The Right Reverend Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury, told Greatest Hits Radio that there's still meaning in the story for those who aren't of Christian faith.
And while it's more than just chocolate eggs, Bishop Stephen says the eggs do have relevance to the religious story.
He said: "It certainly is more than chocolate eggs, although it is also chocolate eggs because a lot of people don't realise that the eggs are about the goodness that comes on Easter day.
When you smash open the egg, that's the breaking of the tomb and Jesus rises from there."
But of course, the true meaning of Easter is the story of Jesus, where he arrives in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, before the welcoming crowd turn on him, resulting in his arrest, imprisonment and subsequent death on the cross.
The Bishop says the story has modern applications.
"It's a very modern story in many ways in the way public opinion can shift so much," he said.
What Easter means
The story has significant meaning for Christians, but Bishop Stephen explained Easter's meaning for non-Christians.
"It's the event that means when all is lost, there is hope.
"When everything of value has gone, there is still love.
"This is God being in the world, sharing our existence, knowing what it's like to be us, and then breaking those rules once and for all to be able to show that there is life out of death."
The Bishop shared an Easter message for us all.
"Easter is an amazing truth story of the most difficult of times and love breaking through and we need that message in these days. Happy Easter."