Resurrection on trial

Easter Day at St James had a sort of legal flavour this year.

We set up a kind of courtroom scene presided over by 'Judge Adrian', wearing a barrister's wig borrowed from Simon Hughes MP (thanks Simon). The congregation were the jury and I presented the evidence for the defence (of the resurrection).

The Judge fired off a barrage of questions: (what happened to the body? Was he really dead? Did someone steal the body? Did the disciples make it up? Was he just a ghost? Were there any witnesses etc?). I did my best to come up with Scriptural answers backed up by the testimony of Mary Magdalene and the Captain of the Roman Guard who happened to be sitting in the congregation.

At the end I said to the congregation: you are the jury. You must decide.

Just to get us thinking on an Easter theme I had constructed an empty tomb in the narthex of St
James, just as you enter the building.

We'll keep it there all through the next weeks of the Easter season as a silent witness of the resurrection to visitors to the church during the week - and for the children of St James's School who are coming to the church on Tuesday morning for their beginning of term service.

I've got a few bible verses and other messages that I am going to add for a week at a time all through the Easter season, beginning with today's verse which is now on display: 'He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him'

The Lord's Table at St James decorated for Easter by the children of St James's School