Spiritual renewal is coming. It’s time to light the beacons

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.