To celebrate Easter Sunday, Aled Jones is in Canterbury to explore what this sacred time means to Christians and to reflect on how the powerful message of Jesus’s resurrection still changes lives today.
Aled joins a dawn Easter service at St Martin’s in Canterbury, the oldest church in the English-speaking world and possibly the first place Easter was publicly celebrated in England. He meets their newly ordained priest, the Rev Dr Charlotte Sleigh, who relates her faith to the experience of the women who first witnessed the resurrection of Jesus.
Laura Wright’s Easter spirits soar when a Bermudan Christian introduces her to a unique Easter tradition from her homeland – flying kites to celebrate the joy of Jesus rising from the dead.
Back in Canterbury, Aled hears what Easter means to the cathedral’s new dean, the Very Rev Dr David Monteith. He reveals why he believes this time in the Christian calendar reflects the triumph of good over evil and how an act of grace following the tragic Enniskillen bombing in 1987 shaped his faith journey forever.
The programme includes glorious songs and hymns celebrating the hope and joy of Easter, and a very special performance from Katherine Jenkins.
1. Jesus Christ Is Risen Today – Canterbury Cathedral
2. See What a Morning – St Germain’s Church, Birmingham
3. Now the Green Blade Riseth – Holy Land, Tower of David, Jerusalem
4. All Heaven Declares – Katherine Jenkins
5. Sing unto the Lord – St Elisabeth’s Church, Reddish
6. Before the Throne of God Above – St Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen
7. Thine Be the Glory – Canterbury Cathedral Show less