This is the sort of scene that many will drive to Whichford Woods to see in the coming days; a carpet of blue, and the air filled with the fragrance of bluebells.

This is what Easter is about, and what the Christian life is all about – yea really!

You and I are called to be like those first few brave bluebells which we spot with delight and know that they indicate that the blue carpet will soon be here. You and I are called to be the first-fruits of God’s Kingdom. We are called to be that because that is exactly what Jesus was. In his life and ministry he taught, told stories, debated, discussed, challenged, argued and cajoled, but people mainly remember what he actually DID. He raised the dead, he gave the blind their sight, he restored disabled people to full movement, he enabled the deaf to hear and the dumb to sing God’s praise. He showed people what it would be like when God’s Kingdom was fully established. He told people in the synagogue that “the Spirit of the Lord” was upon him, and that God had anointed him to do these amazing things.

You and I are called to do that, in the place where God has put us. We maybe won’t raise the dead or heal the sick, but we can visit the sick, stand alongside the bereaved, care for the weak and vulnerable, be a shoulder for people to cry on, or a rock to support them.

Sometimes this will be costly – in time, effort, emotion, determination, maybe even in money, and we might well feel that we don’t have the reserves of inner strength to do this work. That’s when we remember that God has given each of us his Holy Spirit as a gift at Baptism, as a gift in the Holy Communion, as a gift whenever we choose to ask for it, and it is in, and only in, the power of the Spirit that we can truly be God’s people.

At the end of the month we shall celebrate Ascension Day, and Jesus’ return to glory in heaven, and then just 10 days later, on June 8th we have Pentecost, when we remember God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, as a “sound of rushing wind, and as tongues of fire” filling everyone with boldness to preach (and to live out) God’s Good News. Living out that Good News also means standing up for what we know to be right, good, true and just. This suggests that contrary to tradition we really should talk about religion, politics, and money … and question people in authority as to how they behave.