The Epworth & Belton Group of Churches

Reflection for Eastertide - A Season of New Beginnings

It’s a joy to share a few thoughts with you as we journey through this most remarkable season of the year. There’s a particular kind of stillness that settles over our villages as we move from the shadows of Holy Week into the bright, expansive hope of Eastertide. It’s much like that first evening when you realise the sun hasn’t set by tea time—a sudden, bright awareness that the shadows are retreating and there is more light to live in than there was just a few days ago.

When walking through the churchyard earlier this week I noticed a patch of primroses tucked away in a corner that rarely gets the sun. They looked so delicate, yet there they were, pushing through the damp earth and the remnants of winter’s debris. It struck me how much our own lives can feel like those little flowers. We’ve all carried our own "Holy Weeks"—the seasons of worry, the long Fridays of the soul, or the general heaviness we see in the news.

Yet, the message of these days is that the story never ends in the dark. Easter reminds us that God is the master of the unexpected "green shoot." Just when we think a situation is settled or a hope is lost, grace has a way of nudging its way through the cracks. It isn’t always a loud, dramatic shift; often, it’s a quiet, steady persistence that says, "Life is here, and it is beautiful."

As we look around our communities in the Epworth and Belton Group of Churches, we see this same spirit in the small acts of kindness, the shared laughter at a coffee morning, and the way we hold one another up. We are a people of the Resurrection, which simply means we believe that the best is yet to come.

But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you (Mark 16:7).

I love that idea—that He is always "going ahead of us."

Whatever you are facing this week, whether it’s a personal hurdle or just the busyness of daily life, please know that you aren’t walking into it alone. The light that broke through on Easter morning is the same light that warms our streets today, steady and true.

A Prayer for Eastertide

Gracious God, thank you for the gift of new beginnings.

As the season turns and the days lengthen,

help us to see the signs of your love in the ordinary moments of our lives.

May we walk with a light heart and a steady trust in your goodness.

Amen.

With every blessing

Paul

Revd Canon Paul Wilson

Rector of the Epworth Group of Churches

Priest-in-Charge of the Belton Group of Churches

Assistant Curate of the Crowle Group of Churches and the Haxey and Owston Ferry Plurality

Rural Dean of the Isle of Axholme Deanery