Press Releases
Easter message from the Rt Revd Alan Harper, Bishop of Connor
EASTER 2006
A Message from the Bishop of Connor,
The Rt Revd Alan Harper, O.B.E.
Christians mark Easter as a celebration of the victory of God over sin and death shown forth and made real in the appearing of the Risen Lord. It is a time of hope and transformation. The disciples not only rejoiced in what they saw and experienced, they were transformed by it both as individuals and as a renewed community.
In this latter respect the resurrection is a parable and prospect for our whole community in Northern Ireland. Are we prepared to embrace a transformed future as a community in need of healing and open to receive it? Do our elected representatives have the will and the skill to chart a way through the minefield of our ancient animosities to construct a better, shared, future? Will those representatives be given by the people of Northern Ireland the space and the encouragement to work through to a successful conclusion? For all our sakes that is my earnest prayer.
The Risen Lord who showed himself to his disciples after the first Easter Day was still recognisably the Lord they had all known in life and he still bore the distinguishing marks of the nails, the spear, the lash and the crown of thorns. In other words he brought into the transformed future of the post resurrection era all that he had been and had experienced in the past. He was not less than he had always been, he was more, freed from the limitations of the past. My prayer is that we can secure such a future in Ulster, abandoning none of the characteristics of our unique identities and heritage, but seeing them transformed by the new relationships created by a shared future marked by parity of esteem, justice and mutual respect.
+Alan Connor:
Easter 2006