Last Sunday, I had two ‘interesting’ and quite challenging baptisms which I conducted.

I found myself before the second service, sitting on the floor with the little girl who I was to baptise. She was approximately 2 or 3 years old. We were playing with the water in the font, which I had placed on the floor. This had 2 aims, firstly trying to show her the water which I would place on her head, and secondly, trying to calm her tears which were failing down her face.

Without the resurrection Jesus’ death would have simply gone down in history, if it had been noted at all, as yet another unjust execution, another politico/religious injustice, the murder of a good person. But the resurrection confirmed what we know to be true – Jesus who died is and was the Lord of history, the Word of God, and his death shows us the depths of God’s love for us, the extent to which God was prepared to go to bring us back into relationship with him. In Tom Wright’s memorable phrase: ‘On the cross the power of love defeated the love of power’. And that victory we know to be real because of the resurrection.

The meadows were full of flowers. Larks rose singing into the sky. There was no one to be seen for miles around. There was nothing but the wide earth and sky, the singing of the larks, and the freedom of space.