The Right Reverend Dr Guli Franics-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford has written an
Easter message.

AS we approach our celebration of Easter, amidst some deeply unsettling times in the
world and in the life of our Church, I have found myself once again identifying with the
experiences of the disciples during that first Easter. The unfolding events confounded
their expectations of who Jesus was and how the Kingdom of God would come.

For some today, there may well be echoes of deeply cherished hopes and beliefs being
shaken. What we believed to be certain, now less clear. Yet, hard as it might be, I
wonder if this is a good place to dwell, including for the Church. In anxious times, it can
be tempting to cling to certainties, in our beliefs and ways of being. Certainty is
seductive and comforting, and yet – perhaps surprisingly – it can also stifle faith.

Recently, I watched the Oscar winning movie, Conclave, and was struck by these words
of the protagonist played by Ralph Fiennes: “Our faith is a living thing precisely because
it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there was only certainty, and if there was no doubt,
there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith.”

Alongside our common beliefs which are the bedrock of our faith, there will be many
areas where we believe slightly different things about God, or God’s will for us. That is
part of the beauty of our diversity as the body of Christ; it is how we strengthen and
challenge one another. It is also a call for humility, as none of us can claim, on our own,
to know the mind of God.

To live with uncertainty may be challenging and uncomfortable, as it was for the early
disciples, but it can also create precious space for faith to grow and for connection with
others to be strengthened. To hold even deeply treasured beliefs with a sense of
openness and to acknowledge that ‘I may be wrong’, is a recognition that only in
community can we encounter the fullness of God. In this we commit afresh to valuing
one another even as we continue our journey of faith and discovery, sometimes through
deserts of uncertainty.

And so, while we long for the fresh dawning of Easter Day, and for our hopes to be
revealed, may we bear one another gently, be quick to forgive, and above all pray for
each other, and for a renewed appreciation of all that we learn from one another as we
walk the way of faith together.

Can I wish you all a very happy and blessed Easter.