Easter 2026 at Severn
What is Easter about for us?
Held near the beginning of spring when new life is all around us, Easter is the church’s celebration of life defeating death, as demonstrated by Jesus. He died on a cross, as we remember on Good Friday, and rose from death on the Sunday we celebrate as Easter.
This year, we’ve remembered the crowds that greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, a week before Easter Sunday - see Dan Green’s talk here - and in the special week leading up to Easter, we’re also:
reflecting, worshiping and sharing the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday (April 2nd), 8pm at The Harbour, Totterdown
hunting Easter eggs in Victoria Park on Saturday 4th April - details and sign-up here
and celebrating Easter Sunday together from 10am at The Station, Silver Street (BS1 2AG).
How we got ready for Easter - the season of Lent
Before Jesus started his work to show people the life that could beat death, he spent weeks in the desert, relying and feeding only on words from his Father.
Lent is a season of preparation for Easter where we can choose to do something similar. Some people give up food or something else significant, and find that this shapes their experiences with God and life. We've had a couple of podcast chats about this.
We’re also making a new podcast series this year called “The Desert Trials” - reflective encounters with Jesus in the desert during his time of trial.
What were his discussions with the devil all about? How can we relate to them, what can we learn from how Jesus responded, and what difference could a desert encounter with Jesus make for us as we approach Easter? Follow us now to get new episodes every week.
The Desert Trials - episode guide
Introduction and context - what did the desert and this story mean to the people who first heard it?
Episodes 1 and 2: The bread trial - Satan tempts a hungry Jesus to turn stones into bread, but what kind of trial is this? How does the enemy want Jesus to react, and how can Jesus’ response strengthen us? (To go along with episode 2, we’ve grabbed some Bible quotes you can download on the topic “Who does God say I am?”)
Episodes 3 and 4: The temple trial - Satan takes Jesus to the top of the Jewish temple and invites him to show his faith by jumping to the ground. What would it mean if he did? And what did Jesus’ response remind faithful Jewish people about?
Episodes 5 and 6: The world trial - Satan offers Jesus a shortcut which might seem to complete his mission early, without some of the cost. Why not do a deal with the devil? And what is so important about worship?
Further reflection - why did Jesus die?
In this podcast, Claire Lynch and Bern Leckie discuss how Jesus’ death can be seen in different ways through the Bible and the culture of Jesus’ time. The conversation ends with a look at Psalm 22 and what Jesus meant when he said “My God, my God, why have you foresaken me?” Reading or listening and praying along with Psalm 22 is suggested as a way to reflect on this.
You can also watch and read the scripts for Claire’s talks about this here:
