Common dangers sometimes bring people together, and hopefully our sense of community has grown over the while, even if we’ve been physically apart. We’ve come to appreciate the contribution that so many people have made to life. Happiness is not found in possessions or achievements, but in the warmth of human relationships.

Jesus used the image of the vine and the branches for relationship – with him and with others also.  This highlights the human need for a supportive community, for people together. There can be no such thing as a solitary Christian.  We live it out together. We’ve been together while apart. Now, as we come to a new time of the nation’s – and the world’s -recovery, we must look forward to being community, not just apart, but physically together once more.

We will express that as we come to Church together, to the place where God’s people express community physically. We’ll have to take steps to make sure that coming together to Church is a safe experience for all. We’ll have to marshal our stewards once more, and I have no doubt they will be only too happy to oblige. We all must look forward to the coming together, to the common bond we express – to listen to God’s Word together, to sing together, to thank God together, and to ask his help together, to break bread together, and to departing from our gatherings to ‘love and serve the Lord.

Easter 2021 opens great promise for all of us. Let’s recognise that, and work to enrich the coming together for everyone.