New beginnings – built on the past, not defined by it
Easter is a time for new beginnings. This is not just true for Christians, but also for others for whom spring ushers in an optimistic season of new life and growth after a long winter.
In our great county, the renewal and regeneration that we see in the world around us coincides with the coming into being of the new Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority.
At the Cathedral, we were privileged to host the first meeting of this new body. It took place on March 6 in the historic surroundings of the Chapter House, a space which has on three occasions hosted our nation’s parliament.
In the service and celebration that followed this inaugural meeting, there was a sense of optimism for what devolution might bring to Lincolnshire, an optimism that was matched by an awareness of the magnitude of the task faced by those who have responsibility for delivering it, not least the Mayor who will be elected on May 1.
Going back to the celebration of Easter, the resurrection of Christ provides an insight into one approach to such a period of transition.
Making the most of new opportunities requires us to take risks and, in so doing, to risk failure, or at least not to achieve everything that we set out to do. Faced with such a possibility, the safe option is to retreat into the past or to hide behind it.
We may not like the thought of standing still or going backwards, but they can often feel like safer options than risking an uncertain future.
The good news of Easter is that our lives, though built on the past, need never again be defined by it. Christians are an Easter people, not a Good Friday people.
Christ's victory over death points us forwards in hope not backwards in fear. Importantly, it doesn't anaesthetise us from the complex and often painful reality of our lives and that of our world, or prevent us from failing, or promise an unbroken succession of ‘happily ever after’ endings. Much more significantly, it offers future possibilities in which risks can be taken with positivity and hope, thereby enabling us to move forward, even when faced with doubt and uncertainty.
It's my prayer for the communities of Greater Lincolnshire, and those who serve them in the new Combined County Authority, that together we will resist the temptation to be defined by the past, or attempt to retreat into it, and instead work collaboratively and optimistically to unlock all the potential that devolution brings.
May we do so with a hopeful confidence that builds on the past but does not allow us to be defined by it. Easter is a time for new beginnings. May that be true for us.
The Very Revd Dr Simon Jones
Dean of Lincoln
