EASTER DAY 2026 preacher: The Archbishop

St John 20.9: … until then they had not understood the scriptures, which showed that he must rise from the dead …

THE TEMPORAL EASTERTIDE

We began Lent in this cathedral church by singing as The Offertory Hymn on Ash Wednesday:

Forty days and forty nights …

It is to the sixth and final verse that I direct our attention this morning, Easter morning:

Keep, O keep us, Saviour dear,

Ever constant by thy side;

That with thee we may appear

At the eternal Eastertide.

We have today reached the temporal Eastertide. We still await the eternal Eastertide. What we then sang in muted tone and in minor key has now been transposed into a thrilling metallic sound and into a major key. This joyful Eastertide has come. Happy Easter to you all who worship here today and who make your sacrifice of praise to God Almighty in Christ Church Cathedral wherever you have come from and to wherever you return – and also to those who join on–line.  

THE DESERT: JACOB AND JESUS

We are not yet done with the Lenten hymn, however. It has something further to offer us as a perspective on the first Easter morning. Its sombre expectation of the resurrection and of the resurrection life feeds into the first reactions and responses of Mary of Magdala, of Simon Peter and of John the beloved disciple as depicted for us in St John 20. This written account is more tentative by far than our orchestration of Easter for brilliant sound, delightful and essential to our contemporary celebration as it is and certainly ought to be. There is within it another haunting echo which connects Jacob and Jesus in ways that we might not have expected. Just listen quietly to a line from the second verse:

Stones thy pillow, earth thy bed.

The promise made to Jacob in his dream as he slept on a stone pillow in Genesis 28 is about to be fulfilled in the spreading of the news of the resurrection of Jesus to and in all of the nations of the earth: All the families of the earth will wish to be blessed as you and your descendants are blessed. (Genesis 28.14b) The deserted place – inhabited by Jacob or by Jesus – has not been abandoned. It has become the seedbed of a new life in communion with God. After all, generations of disciples of the same Jesus throughout history will go again and again. Into the desert. It will establish itself as a place of counter–cultural reassessment of principles and priorities for people of firm faith and for people of faltering faith alike. The desert where Jesus retreated during what we have institutionalized as the Season of Lent in a real sense has been transposed and transplanted to the tomb which the early–rising disciples find empty, having expected to find Jesus there – but empty because he had risen to life in and through death itself. Let us always remember that two out of three of those disciples clear off home. This was not an instant or an immediate success story. Neither they, nor we, are out of the woods just yet. Tentativeness remains our friend in the temporal Eastertide. It has much to teach us.

FERMENT OF SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY IN THE CATHEDRAL

Over the past few days, we have had a great deal of spiritual activity in the cathedral. On Thursday, at the Maundy Thursday Eucharist, we looked at Jesus as prophet, identifying key themes of praying, watching and listening as integral to his Messianic redefinition of prophecy as he approaches his Passion. On Friday and Saturday, the theme of priest came through strongly as we grappled with the death of God and the sacrifice of the Messiah offering atonement for sin. This follows and builds upon the institution of The Eucharist the evening before which, through time, has become the definitive gathering point for this commemoration, this memorial as the church takes up the unique connection and combination of these two events in salvation history, calling them Holy Communion with God and neighbour. Today we can begin to explore the kingship of Christ, a theme that we shall continue to explore right the way through to the Ascension, which is the continuation and the culmination of the Easter Season, before it makes way for Whitsunday – and which, of course, we will engage again on Christ the King Sunday as Trinity gracefully makes way for Advent and our year starts all over afresh. The three terms: prophet, priest and king are distilled in another hymn: How sweet the name of Jesus sounds, in a believer’s ear John Newton’s hymn of 1779. Easter is an evolving revelation of God and self as these three themes intertwine and interconnect in our own coming to terms with the risen life . It is this living risen life that permeates and infiltrates our delight in the earthly Eastertide.

PRAYER, FASTING, ALMSGIVING AND PUBLIC RELIGION

But I ask: Is there another connection that we can make particularly through the lens of St John 20 with the whole of the Season of Lent which is well and truly over – and in this sense we really have now left behind the hymn: Forty days and forty nights …? It is, to my mind, the connection of the prophet, priest and king with what set us out on this journey on Ash Wednesday. If you remember, its Gospel was not The Temptation of Jesus but an object lesson in how to do the things you might do in any case in any of the Jewish, Christian or Islamic Faith traditions, with a new urgency and a new humility by integrating the relationship of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as set out for us in St Matthew 6. They are to be integrated around the instruction not to parade your religion before others. (St Matthew 6.1) This forms part of The Sermon on the Mount. It is Jesus at his teaching best. Lent has proved to be for us all the time of enhanced discipleship.

… AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE INCARNATION

Jesus is opening up a new world full of grace and truth, as he did in his Incarnation. It is one devoid of hypocrisy and posturing and it is offered to people who had no role to play in existing and conventional religion. It is these same people who are swept onward and upward in to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with the Messiah as they follow and festoon this donkey–king. The reimagining of prayer, fasting and almsgiving was their invitation to be part and parcel of the kingdom of heaven here on earth precisely because that kingdom is the kingdom of God, not a kingdom of human manufacturing. How can this be re–invested and re–discovered in the fragile and febrile narrative of Easter Day which offers so little in terms of majesty and yet so much in terms of future glory for us today?  

The full list in John Newton’s Hymn offers us a belonging to everything that Jesus is:

Jesus! my Shepherd, Brother, Friend,

My Prophet, Priest, and King,

My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,

Accept the praise I bring. 

From Christmas Day, we have been dealing directly with God’s use of humble beginnings. There is every god reason for us to find the same God doing the same things on Easter Day. St John chapter 20 holds the same ingredients of salvation from below and salvation from within. This is yet another message emanating from the generous text of St John 20 which keeps on giving. The wonderful thing about Christmas and Easter is that on each occasion and in each year we can and do start all over again. As earthen vessels containing the grace of God we must do this. St John chapter 20 introduces us to the positive emptiness which we have found to be the characteristic of the Desert of Lent. Its ingredients of the earliest moments of resurrection are: grief, recognition, telling and rejoicing. These form a new community out of people and places and experiences. We are that new community of belief and belonging.  

CHRIST IS RISE HALLELUJAH!

This is the new life on Christ that we feel in our fingers and in our toes, as they say and sing somewhere else. Christ is Risen Hallelujah! And God works with our hands and our feet to bring this very particular and precious type of salvation to the whole world of his creation and recreation from this moment in 2026. What we have lived through is the recharging of kingship by prophecy and by priesthood. What we have lived through is the most colourful and the most powerful few days of the yes. We have seen retaliating replaced by redemption. We have seen darkness replaced by dawn. We have seen aggression replaced by acceptance:

Jesus said, Mary! She turned and said to him, Rabbuni! (St John 20.16)

Thomas said, My Lord and my God! (St John 20.28)

FINALLY …

St John 20 is not only the culmination of the whole of The Gospel. It is of a piece with the totality of it. Essential for centring and anchoring our faith is that there seems to be no Christmas in St John’s Gospel but Easter is Christmas fulfilled. The fragilities of the first Easter morning are essential to this movement and to this continuity. There is no fragility about The Prologue but there is fragility about The Resurrection. One disciples has kept watch all night; two disciples run the next morning to find out what the story is. The one who remains gets the most fulfilled picture. And yet at the heart of her recognition there is rejection: Do not cling to me …for I have not yet ascended to the Father. (St John 20.17) And the disciples will continue to huddle behind locked doors in Jerusalem for fear of the Jews (St John 20.19). Everywhere we turn there is a long way to go.

Our Lenten life has not been wasted. It has been essential in the almost tantric conservation of energies, in their repurposing so that we can join in the metallic resonances of a joyful Eastertide. Tomorrow is a new day. Our Lenten discipline is not wasted. We start afresh, our lives restructured and repurposed. We follow the Risen Lord into Galilee where he has gone before us … and to the ends of the earth.

St John 1.18: Mary of Magdala went to tell the disciples. I have seen the Lord! She said, and gave them his message.

The Walk of Witness began in St Mary’s Cathedral on Marlborough Street and proceeded via O’Connell Street and Dame Street to Christ Church Cathedral where it concluded in prayer led by Archbishop Michael Jackson and Archbishop Dermot Farrell.

The walk has become a Dublin Good Friday tradition as participants step out in faith into the busy secular world. In somewhat unexpected sunshine, the procession drew much attention from the crowds of city dwellers and visitors who were either concluding their day’s work and shopping or beginning a night out.  

Sending the pilgrims out of St Mary’s Cathedral, Archbishop Farrell encouraged them to fix their gaze on the passion of Jesus, feel his presence among them and walk in silence in the presence of God through the streets of the capital. He also urged them to recognise the presence of Christ, not just on Good Friday, but every day.

In Christ Church Cathedral, reflecting on the day through the lens of St John 19: 30 ‘it is finished’, Archbishop Jackson said the phrase summed up the totality of Good Friday.

“In the context of Christian Salvation History which, even at this most tragic moment in its narrative, nestles in the hand of God, it signifies the completion of the intentional mission and public ministry of Jesus; the fulfilment of the prophecies which fuel this mission and self–understanding together with his sufficient and efficacious atonement for human sins. In this way, it has all the ingredients for allowing a new world to open up in the immediate aftermath of the earthly and deathly life of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Mission, fulfilment and atonement come together on a day we call Good Friday,” he said.

Archbishop Jackson will preach and preside at the Festal Eucharist for Easter Day in Christ Church Cathedral at 11am tomorrow.

During the service all those involved in ministry renewed their commitment to ministry and the oils for anointing the sick, for baptism and the oil of the chrism were consecrated. The Archbishop also washed the feet of a number of clergy and lay people in the congregation.

In his sermon Archbishop Jackson explored St John 13 and its inspiration to service and to holiness. Maundy Thursday, he said, is the gateway to the three days that immediately precede Easter. A lot happens in a short time and on Maundy Thursday, the foot washing and the institution of the Last Supper are complementary.

The Archbishop said that in St John 13 three specific features of the prophetic life and ministry of Jesus Christ come to the fore – praying, watching and listening – and these are enlivened by Jesus taking a towel.  

“The action is more than a gesture. It is an inversion and a subversion of role in a way that upends formula in the cause of service. Jesus does this in full recognition that he has come from the Father and is going back to the Father. He does this as God incarnate. He now does what is entrusted to him, it is his mandate, it is that for which he has been living. What he does is to show, by a lowly act of manual work, that everybody matters within the love of God. The feet of Judas are included among the feet that are washed as part of offering the new commandment to the disciples to love one another even as he has loved them,” he explained.

The Archbishop said there were resonances for today’s church. In Judas’s silence he suggested that many people today live in their own silence but this is how people miss out on what is happening to them. He worried that people in these dioceses not attending church were missing out on “the inspiration poured out by God in a gathering ground with the purpose of enabling them one by one to hear the call to exercize the novum mandatum (new commandment). Ultimately it is thiswhich inspires anyone and everyone who will hear that voice to speak to others in love. And it is here that Peter is given new life. It is these very silences that erode our witness, our confidence and let The Devil in”.

As we enter the most intensely violent time of the Christian year, Archbishop Jackson observed that it is a time when the Holy Land is once again subjected to warfare and destruction, cruelty and annihilation – intense violence. “This immediate context gives a very specific resonance to our Three Days with Jesus Christ the Son of God and Son of Man,” he said.

You can read the Archbishop’s sermon by clicking here.

Marriage and Relationships: An Anglican Exploration by the former Bishop of Limerick and Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Rt Revd Kenneth Kearon, was launched on Saturday afternoon (March 28) in the Henry Roe Room of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

The book, which was officially launched by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, looks at societal changes in the 20th and 21st centuries which have challenged many Christians to rethink approaches to marriage and personal relationships. It focuses on the use of contraception, the availability of divorce and the legal recognition given to same sex relationships in most western countries. It explores what the Bible says, centuries of Christian tradition, how attitudes to contraception and divorce changed, and where Anglicans are now in the discussion of same sex relationships.

Archbishop Jackson said that Bishop Kearon’s broad–ranging experience across the Anglican Communion left him well placed to take on “one of the thorniest and one of the most fractious theological topics of pastoral and personal import for exploration”.

“It matters to people, however, because it goes to the core of their being. People who observe us as we seek to deal with this area of human living in our church life are as important to us as is our own estimation of ourselves. But, inside the Anglican Communion, few of us seem to see it like this. Some dialogue is healthy. Some dialogue is toxic. This book is suffused with clarity of writing and graciousness of spirit,” he commented.

Anglicanism, the Archbishop stated, has a history of allowing sincere, principled and well thought through new interpretations of Scripture based on scientific and sociological developments to ventilate and to become part of the weave of Anglican lived experience. Pointing to the Scripture, Tradition and Reason basis of Anglicanism of Richard Hooker, he said we could not avoid or deflect the issues. Added to this is the compassion for human experience which makes Anglicanism a pastoral church.

He commended the book saying: “Ken has had the courage to address the issues simply but not simplistically, aggressively but not antagonistically, lovingly but not sentimentally. They are issues, as a predecessor of his in the chaplaincy in Trinity College once said, that are things on which we strive to agree to disagree – agreeably … Let us live in prayer and hope of such agreeability.”

Bishop Kearon noted English playwright and poet TS Eliot’s observation on Anglicanism following the Lambeth Conference of 1930: ‘Anglicans wash their dirty linen in public – but the linen does get washed!’. He said that issues are debated publicly at synods and committees with everyone contributing to the conversation before eventually a way forward is found which attracts widespread consensus.

In the areas of contraception and the remarriage of divorced persons in church, he said that the discussions and debates were interminable but in each case a way forward was found which reflected a consensus on the issue.

“We are a pastoral church, rooted in the everyday lives of people and the challenges we all face. Trying our best to live lives that are true to our faith and to our own values isn’t easy. Life is an ongoing dialogue between experience and our faith tradition, and both have to be taken seriously. It isn’t simply a matter of churches doing or saying what’s popular or easy; but also, gone are the days when a few chosen verses from the Bible or from some ancient church document or creed could resolve a question. As the debates about contraception and divorce show, resolution isn’t easy; but it is possible,” he said.

Bishop Kearon acknowledged that today churches everywhere are “vexed” about human sexuality. Social changes have been rapid and churches are under pressure from all sides, he added.

“The conversations and discussions are difficult. However, what is not acceptable is that the conversation doesn’t take place. It is my hope that this short book will help resource those conversations, introduce some background material, and give us all the confidence to engage, so that as in the past difficult issues were faced and finally resolved, so too in the same spirit we can engage with difficult ethical issues that face us as church people today,” he said before concluding with thanks to all who had helped bring the book to publication.

Marriage and Relationships: An Anglican Exploration is published by Hinds Publishing and is available to buy from Hinds Publishing www.hinds.ie and on the bookstore of the Church of Ireland website www.churchofireland.org.

You can read Archbishop Jackson’s speech in full here. 

You can read Bishop Ken Kearon’s speech in full here.

You can see more photos from the launch on our Facebook page:

During Synod, which was chaired by Archbishop Michael Jackson with Ciaran Toland SC appointed Assessor, two members of the Dublin clergy were proposed for the position: Canon Paul Arbuthnot and the Revd David White.

The election will take place by postal vote with ballot papers issuing from the Diocesan Office this week. While the meeting of Synod required both lay and clerical Dublin members to attend, only clerical members can vote for the Clerical Honorary Secretary. The deadline for the return of ballot papers is April 20.

Synod began with a service of Holy Communion which was livestreamed from Holy Trinity Church, Rathmines.

In his sermon, Archbishop Michael Jackson focused on the theme of inspiration, life and renewal, drawing on the readings from Ezekiel 37: 1–14 and John 11: 1–45.

“These two Readings present us with both the corporate and the individual dilemmas that God’s presence in the church of our making causes us. Inspiration, life and renewal – they are all so distant from so much of what preoccupies us in church life much, or most, of the time,” the Archbishop commented.

He concluded: “The question that we must face as The Diocesan Synods of Dublin and Glendalough seems to me to be this: What would Ezekiel find, or what would Lazarus find of inspiration, life and renewal were he to enter the world of church that we have created as a response to the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples: …on earth as it is in heaven…? Would he, we also have to ask, be coming again next Sunday? Addressing these issues is our synodical work. It is to aid us in this that we need strong, compassionate, godly, capable, industrious, courageous, Spiritual Diocesan Honorary Secretaries to enable administration to become the handmaid of salvation.”

You can read the Archbishop’s sermon in full here.  

On Saturday March 28th there is to be a service of welcome by the diocese of Canterbury. Wednesday’s service was of Provincial and Communion–wide proportions. These national and international considerations were threaded throughout the afternoon’s proceedings. The choir of Canterbury Cathedral sang Khudaya, rahem kar, an Urdu liturgical text of the Kyrie Eleison and the Gospel acclamation in Swahili – Hata Milele – was sung in an unforgettable manner by the African Choir of Norfolk. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster read the Old Testament Reading. The Anglican bishop of Mexico read the Gospel in Spanish. The Primate of the Church of the Province of Central Africa prayed for the archbishop in Bemba after the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion presented the Compass Rose to the archbishop. Along with the legalities intrinsic to an installation there was the signing by the archbishop of the Presidents’ Covenant of Churches Together in England.

Facing into a difficult, some might argue well–nigh impossible, job both in the Church of England and in the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Mullally preached a positively cautious sermon. She spoke of beginning on Tuesday by walking the same pilgrim walk from London to Canterbury as had Thomas Becket, one of her predecessors. She then quoted from a prayer written for her pilgrimage by student chaplains: ‘… that God might strengthen us in faith, grant us a heart like Christ, gentle, humble and devoted to the truth, so that we may share the Gospel with joy.’ She acknowledged the war–torn nature of the world and the plight of victims and survivors in situations of abuse in church contexts. She drew attention to the extraordinary acts of love in ordinary lives. All of this tied in with the Annunciation and the courage of Mary who had ‘the audacity to believe that with God we can do extraordinary things.’

The service continued outside the walls of the cathedral with the archbishop blessing the city and the diocese taking up the words of Jeremiah 29.7: ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.’

A number of thoughts struck me. The first is that this archbishop of Canterbury will need the prayers of all of us in sustaining her ministry and in leading the Anglican Communion as never before. The Anglican Communion along with its Commissions and Networks turned out in force to pray with her and to support her on the day. The second is a reflective question: Have we allowed that sense of responsibility to the city and to civic society fade from our spiritual consciousness and, if so, how are we to regain both a grasp of such responsibility and the affection of the society to whom we belong that we have lost? The third is the memory of the words with which the children left the archbishop at the beginning of the service and my conviction of our need to take them to heart: ‘Let us then humble ourselves before God and together seek his mercy and strength.’ Holy Week gives us the perfect opportunity to do this as we make our own pilgrimages in our communities and towards Easter Day.

This took several forms. There was space for break out rooms at diocesan synod, and we facilitated seven consultations throughout our diocese. A big thank you to everyone who participated.

We want to feedback some of our findings.

What we found was dioceses longing to move from scarcity to abundance, from inward to outward, from clerical dependency to shared ministry, and from cautious maintenance to joyful, confident participation in God’s mission in today’s Ireland.

Three words emerged: Renew, Release, Reach

·      Renewing our spiritual life, confidence, and identity

·      Releasing people, resources and energy for mission

·      Reaching communities, growing disciples, and serving the world

Through conversation, a shared and hopeful vision for the Church started to emerge. Participants expressed deep gratitude for the Church’s faithfulness, heritage, pastoral care, and community presence, while also acknowledging the urgent need for renewal, greater confidence, and cultural change.

A consistent theme is the call to move from a model centred on maintenance, buildings, and administration toward a more outward–facing, mission–shaped church. There is strong desire for a Church that is visible, confident in the gospel, and actively engaged with the wider community throughout the week, not solely on Sundays.

A major theme is the loss of younger generations. The future vitality of the Church is closely linked to its ability to attract, retain, and empower children, young people, and families. Schools are seen as a critical point of connection, and there is widespread recognition that confirmation and youth ministry must become pathways into lifelong discipleship rather than points of disengagement.

Prayer and worship are identified as the foundation of all renewal. While participants value the richness of Anglican liturgy and tradition, they also call for greater creativity, participation, and diversity in worship, ensuring that services are accessible, intergenerational, and connected to everyday life.

A strong emphasis is placed on welcome, hospitality, and inclusion. The Church is challenged to be a safe, open, and non–judgmental community where people of all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and identities experience belonging and dignity.

There is a clear mandate to release and equip lay people for ministry while simultaneously supporting clergy more effectively. Reducing administrative burdens, expanding training, and fostering shared leadership are seen as essential to sustainable mission.

Collaboration emerges as a critical priority. Parishes are encouraged to move beyond isolation and competition toward shared learning, pooled resources, and collective mission, supported by stronger diocesan structures and communication.

Finally, there is broad agreement that buildings, finances, and governance must serve people and mission rather than dominate them. Church buildings are envisioned as active community hubs and centres of prayer, sustained through responsible stewardship, generosity, and shared resourcing.

Taken together, the consultation points toward a diocese seeking to grow not only in numbers, but in depth of discipleship, confidence in faith, and impact on the communities it serves — joining God in the work already unfolding across Dublin and Glendalough.

What happens next?

Later this year, we plan to gather people together again. This is a chance to hear from voices who perhaps haven’t had a chance to speak yet, but also to explore our findings more deeply. More information to come!

Ongoing feedback is always welcome. Comments are welcome to the chair of the Mission Sub Committee Rev Rob Clements at rector@kilternanparish.ie

This article first appeared in the March 2026 edition of the Church Review, the diocesan magazine of Dublin and Glendalough. 

Archbishop Hosam Naoum started the meeting by reflecting on the chosen passage. He talked about the communion of suffering – when one suffers, all suffer. He also spoke about having hope, but not false hope, in suffering.

Archbishop Michael Jackson responded that in Dublin & Glendalough we have deep respect for the ways in which the Christians in the Holy Land continue in the one place and fulfil the role of living stones for all of us worldwide. He recognised that Christians there live the reality of suffering daily and said that we stand with them in the solidarity of shared prayer and Scripture.

A general discussion on the passage followed. Topics covered included the ecumenical context in the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East, the importance of fellowship and praying for each other, coping with the impact of widespread violence and maintaining faith in God’s constant love for his people in times of stress. The Dublin & Glendalough clergy recognised the danger of seeing the situation in the Middle East through the lens of conflict on the island of Ireland and of offering simple solutions to complex problems.

The Revd Rob Jones introduced a reflection on Romans 8: 35–39 which he shared with the group. In it was this word of encouragement: “Christ is present…The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is at work in your compassion, your courage, your quiet endurance….God is near.”

The link with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem remains strong ten years after the signing of an agreement between our Dioceses. It is hoped that an opportunity to meet in person will take place early next year.