Bishop Minns Easter Greetings

Bishop Martyn Minns landed late Saturday in Kenya for GAFCON meetings. Here are  his greetings for Resurrection Sunday from Nairobi:    ALLELUIA!  CHRIST IS RISEN!  THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED!  ALLELUIA!    This triumphant cry is circling the globe on this glorious Easter Day and  proclaims an event and celebrates a person that changed everything for good.  More than that, Easter changed your life and mine because we are an EASTER  PEOPLE!    We are a people of FAITH . Not a faith in some obscure philosophy, or some vague  hope, but a living faith in a living person, JESUS OF NAZARETH whom we now know  to be the CHRIST. But how can we be sure? Our faith rests secure on the evidence  of the resurrection and the testimony of . . .        * women who went to the tomb on that first Easter morning      * more than 500 people saw him after the resurrection - it was no  make-believe      * Peter and the other apostles whose lives were forever changed      * the Church throughout the ages      * and people today who have experienced resurrection power in their own  lives as they have come to know, love, and serve Jesus Christ.    We are a people who have known FORGIVENESS. When Jesus cried out, "Father,  forgive them," he was not just declaring forgiveness for those at the foot of  the cross on that first Good Friday; he was setting in motion forgiveness for  all those who would turn to him. That includes the thief next to him, the  apostle Peter, and you and me. No longer do we need to live in the darkness of  our sins, separated from God, but we can have fellowship with him. The wall of  separation has been broken down - we have been forgiven. And that forgiveness is  contagious. Not only have we been forgiven but we have been given the strength  to forgive others also.    We are a people set FREE - set free to laugh! Set free to love! Set free to see  miracles! Set free to serve! We are also . . .    Set free from FEAR of FAILURE.  Let's face it: the cross looked like the  greatest failure of all - but Easter shows it to be the greatest victory. And we  have the promise that the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will  also empower us and turn our defeats into his victories.    Set free from FEAR of DEATH.  No longer do we look at death as being the end of  everything. No longer are we in bondage to the hopelessness that surrounds death  without Christ. Instead, as EASTER people we can look at death and see it  swallowed up by Jesus' victory: the sting is gone!    But perhaps the greatest wonder of all is that we are a people set free to  accept or reject God's love. This Easter Day I am sure that there are many  people sitting in churches who have heard the Easter story but have never  responded to it - never said yes to the gift of FAITH, the offer of FORGIVENESS,  or the adventure of being set FREE. This would be a very good day to respond and  become an EASTER PERSON!    AMEN!  Your Brother in Christ,  +Martyn    The Rt. Rev'd Martyn Minns  Missionary Bishop of CANA