What a difference a day makes!

"Behold, I am making all things new!" Revelation 21.5

John ascribes these words to the Risen Jesus in the vision given to him while in exile on the Isle of Patmos. They express the freshness of possibility emanating from the One who has overcome all barriers and opened the door to life in all abundance. They echo the words of Isaiah in his own vision, which took place several hundred years earlier, likening the Lord's intentions for his people to a desert bursting into bloom. Both visions, before and after the event, give expression to the impact of Jesus' resurrection.

Imagine the sensations of Jesus' family and friends, waking up on the first Easter Monday. How different to their fear and grief of 24 hours earlier.

Many will feel as if we are living through a nightmare. For Christians anyway, Easter was an encouraging reminder that God can transform the bleakest of situations - and literally overnight! In the meantime, we are sustained by extraordinary stories of service and heroism and imagination and cooperation, which the present emergency is evoking. It begs the question: when this is all over, what sort of world, what sort of society, what sort of church are you looking forward to waking up to?