By Jill Duff2023-03-27T11:03:00
The Holy Spirit wants to bring renewal to the UK, says Bishop Jill Duff. It’s a prophetic vision God gave her a decade ago. Might it be fulfilled this Easter?
It starts with a tiny spark of recognition.
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb” (John 20:1). In her grief – not just Jesus gone, but his body as well – Mary Magdalene meets two angels. In her moment of deepest pain, she hears Jesus calling her name.
The spark is lit.
Rushing to the disciples with the news, she exclaims: “I have seen the Lord!” (v18). It is the start of a chain of light that has reached through two millennia.
Since the earliest days, Christians have kept vigil through the darkness of Holy Saturday, lighting a fire at dawn on Easter day. It serves as a visible sign of the triumph of life over death. Darkness does not have the last word. The lighting of fires has become a very visual symbol of the gospel. It is richly woven through scripture and, over recent years, has become a very personal part of my own faith story.
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