For photos from the dawn confirmations and baptism service see our Flickr page. Bishop Stephen confirmed and baptised adults and young people in the dawn service which begins with a fire outside the Cathedral as the sun rises.
Easter Day 2025 sermon Salisbury Cathedral
The last time I preached in this pulpit was Thursday, Maundy Thursday. Before the service of the foot washing in the evening, all the clergy and lay ministers of the diocese travel from their parishes from the far west in Lyme Regis and from the downs by the M4, to gather in this their cathedral, around their bishops, as we all renew our ordination vows and bless the holy oils for another year of public ministry. It is preceded by the same services in Jersey and Guernsey. This year seemed particularly special as so many more came, as we came together around our diocesan vision to be re-committed to be Making Jesus Known.
I get to preach at each of these services and this year it seemed to go well. I spoke about the foot-washing and how in every act of visiting or caring, in church leading and in reconciliation, we are called to be foot-washers of the Kingdom of God, turning on its head the concept of service and humility in leadership.
Somewhat pleased with myself the Lord sent one of our curates to tell me (in the nicest possible way bishop), how my sermon could have been improved. He’s a bit of a technological whizz and he used lots of words I don’t understand. Basically he said, that until just recently, AI, Artificial Intelligence, couldn’t compute the idea of the image of Jesus washing the disciples feet. It just couldn’t make sense of it. All its points of reference about leadership and teamwork were from the political world we now inhabit with bullying, fear and misinformation as the way of this so-called new world order. So in asking AI for an image of Jesus washing feet at the last supper, it could only come up with a picture of the other way round, of the disciples washing Jesus’ feet like his servants. ‘I do not call you servants, Jesus said, I call you friends.’ Of course AI has learnt from itself and has evolved and can now get it right. It may be intelligent, but it is still artificial.
This Easter, the state of the world is anything but artificial, it is all too real for so many. Putin plays games with empty words of ceasefire to catch the defending Ukranians out, America throws its weight around like the playground bully, an Anglican Hospital is bombed again in Gaza and the civil war rages in the forgotten Sudan. Easter hope is all many of these peoples have left. So much of what we see and hear, is the very opposite of the message of Holy Week and Easter, so in reality, nothing has changed from the day Jesus was crucified. God is still suffering alongside us and his outstretched arms still hold all those who cry out as if they are forsaken.
So thank God for Easter. Thank God that we are free to live and worship. Thank God that we can pray and act to alleviate suffering and as the tomb is broken open in the darkness, so our hearts, both individually and nationally need to be broken open in love.
And thank God that there seems to be something else going on. I was one of those who hoped that the pandemic would bring us back to some sort of spiritual re-awakening and re-commitment to mercy. We saw none of it as we were plunged back into war in Europe and economic chaos. Release from lockdown meant release for mutual responsibility for so many. The church has also spent recent times arguing within itself and recognising, painfully for so many, just how much it has failed. And yet, and yet, something is happening. In the dawn of this new day, 16 people were baptised and confirmed here. A recent YouGov survey has found that there were around two million more people attending church than in 2018. The most dramatic church growth is among young adults, particularly young men. In 2018, around four per cent of 18-24 year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly. Now this has gone up to 16 per cent. Before the pandemic, we heard a lot about declining church attendance, then Covid 19 seemed to be the death-knell as congregations dwindled even further and churches were closed. But something seems to have shifted over the last two years, while our societies have been in chaos. Bible sales are going up. People are turning up unexpectedly. It is not artificial, it is real – and the church as it is needs to be ready for the church it is being called to be.
Perhaps the impact of the pandemic has sunk in. Perhaps the new way of the world is turning people back to what really matters. Perhaps the image of Jesus washing feet, God stooping down, is capturing the imagination not just the intelligence. Perhaps some people are beginning to realise that the Son of God was washing not just the soles of our feet, but the souls that make us unique and spiritual beings. Perhaps the paradox of the cross is making us realise again that the power of occupying armies and dictators is temporary in the face of sacrificial love. Perhaps, the fact that death becomes life, promised to us all today afresh, is the one thing, the one person, really worth putting our trust and hope in. Perhaps it is all real after all. The resurrection may not be intelligent, it is certainly revolutionary, but it is not artificial – this is real.
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
The Rt Revd Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury