Worship - 12 April 2026

Summary of this week's theme

Last year at this time, many of us were watching the election of a new pope. A new leader for a new time. Around that same moment, a story circulated about Pope Francis reflecting (at the time of the conclave that elected him) on Jesus knocking at the door - not to be let in, but to send us out. That is what Thomas did. He was absent because he had gone out, and tradition tells us he carried the gospel as far as South India. Not so much doubting, as faithful.

This invites us to reflect on the symbols of resurrection. We know the cross, the empty tomb, and the table. Table? The disciples gathered at a table before everything fell apart; and after fear, confusion, and loss, they found themselves back there again - and Jesus came among them. From table to cross, to tomb, and back to table. That same table is echoed in every Eucharist, where we are drawn together, not only in personal encounter with Christ, but in our shared belonging as one body.

Yet there is another symbol: the door. The disciples hid behind a locked door - a symbol of fear and protection. But doors work both ways: they keep things out, and they keep us in. They can be places of safety, but also of isolation, even imprisonment.

We live with such doors still - physical and metaphorical. Fear can lock us in just as surely as it keeps danger out. And yet the risen Jesus passes through locked doors without hesitation. Easter is not about making things safer, but about making them different.

As one reflection (by Rev Dr Sam Wells) puts it, perhaps Jesus came not simply to overcome death, but to transcend isolation - to open a new way of being human together, beyond fear and division, where all can belong.

So doors become signs of resurrection, if we remember that although they can trap us, they need not define us. Christ moves through them. He meets us in our fear, breathes peace upon us, and sends us out.

Resurrection, then, is not just an event, but a practice - a daily choosing of life, of community, of hope. Even in a world that feels uncertain or divided, we are called to live as people who know that isolation is not the final word.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!