IT’S the most important weekend in the year for Christians. No, I’m not thinking about Christmas but about the weekend framed by Good Friday and Easter.

It is really important that the weekend takes us from the depths of agony and despair to the hope of Easter. What happened on the first Good Friday was terrible – a young man tortured to death for no reason other than what he said threatened those with power.

It matters to have enough space to remember this, and recognise that there is a lot in our world that is tragic, painful, unjust and wrong, and God is willing to be part of this.

But then, later in the weekend, comes Easter Day – the day when, in some way no one can explain but we recognise as true, Jesus’ friends discovered that their friend who had died was in fact alive. How? They didn’t know – but that was the only way they could talk about what they experienced.

Death is not the end, and it’s not the most powerful force in the universe.