Hooray – we have made it through Lent So we have prepared for today with prayer repentence giving and self-denial. People in this church have given up chocolate,sugar,alcohol Coronation Street. It has been a long 47days; 1,128 hours; 67,680 minutes; 4,060,800 seconds. But today that is behind us because it is EASTER EGG Day, where we all get to celebrate.Did everyone get an Easter Egg from the great Easter Bunny who makes and distributes our Easter eggs – all in time for Easter morning. Some people buy eggs to give to our friends and family – and I am no different to you. I have brought eggs for my dear friends on the preaching and leading team who have worked so hard this last week.

• Bob – with his dramas
• Sally in the music and great reflection yesterday
• Mark- his mediations yesterday
• Rowena – even though she had a bad back who preached twice
• Chris – talked yesterday in the family service
• And of course Ian who holds the team all together….and has worked really hard

Easter eggs outwardly all look very nice in their cardboard boxes – attractive but different…. A bit like our preachers –they all look very different!
But the inside of all the cardboard boxes is all the same. Like us we all look different, we come in different sizes, nationalities, gifts, abilities. But God loves us all the same- We are all equal in his eyes – equally important and equally loved.
The Foil paper round an Easter egg is like a jewel; radiating light and colour. This reminds me of the scripture we heard today…from the Acts of the apostles… ’we who ate and drunk with him..after he rose from the dead…’ ‘were chosen by God to be witnesses’ that is us.
Christians who partake in the Eucharist, are celebrating Christ’s life, death and resurrection and called to be witnesses: Not to what we saw but to what we know to be the truth. We are like many people in the NT church. Most of them did not see Jesus after he rose from the grave. For a majority of us we only knew about Jesus; his love, his teaching and his resurrection from others; from the disciples, from other believers.
And today There are people here in the city of London, In Woodford, in our schools, in the hospitals and offices that we work and study in who need us to be witnesses to Christ’s, love, teaching and resurrection.
We are called to shine out like the outside of this Easter egg: revealing Christ in what we say and do. What a challenge to be a shiny jewel for Christ. When the Easter Egg is unwrapped it is an egg shape – this is very symbolic - It represents new life and hope. We get hope from the first Easter- when we call on Jesus as our saviour -all our sins are forgiven and we have eternal salvation. Death has no hold on us; We have a sure and certain hope. And this hope is not only in the after life – but in our present state. We have hope for today in change, in renewal, in healing - in being transfigured in Christ.
That is a powerful and life changing hope to really cling to and believe in on this Easter morn. when I pull the two halves apart, We have an empty space. This symbolises the empty tomb: the tomb that Jesus body was laid in on Good Friday. We heard this morning how the women went to the tomb on the Sunday morning to find Jesus had gone. The egg represents the tomb that the angel of the Lord sat outside after he had rolled away the big stone in front of the tomb and caused an earthquake; The tomb that Jesus left and later appeared to his disciples after he had conquered the powers and principalities of sickness and death. The tomb that he left – alive.
The empty tomb and all that Jesus did for us – in dying on the cross and rising to new life We have the promises hope and new life in Christ – seen by the egg shape
We have hope for today – in change, in renewal, in healing …..in being transfigured in Christ – a powerful hope.
We are reminded to shine out as witnesses for Christ’s Kingdom in all we say and do and to be like the pretty shiny paper, reflecting Christ’s Love, truth and peace.
There are no difference between man and women; between parents and children; between wealthy and poor; between clergy and the laity; between different nationalities.
We are all children of God called to worship love and adore him. Let us today on this glorious Easter Morning resolve to love all people and shine out HIS glory for the Kingdom of God………amen.