The Reverend Canon Paul Maybury and Kay Brown from Leeds Minster reflect on Easter and the importance of this time of year for Christians.
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00:00Hi, I'm Kay Brown and I'm the Lay Minister here at Leeds-Minster.
00:04And I'm Canon Paul Mabry. I'm the Rector here at Leeds-Minster.
00:08We're in the season of Lent, which is our preparation for Easter.
00:11So Lent is a time of reflection, perhaps of fasting or giving things up,
00:16so that we really focus on what is coming.
00:19And Easter is coming. Easter is a time of new life.
00:23It's a time where we can open ourselves to God in new ways.
00:27It's a time when we can really think about who we are
00:30and find that fresh start that some of us, well, let's face it, all of us need at some point.
00:36And it's a time of recommitting ourselves to what it means to be Easter people,
00:41people who live in hope of resurrection.
00:44During this Lent period, we've been doing extra things every Sunday.
00:47We've been meeting for lunch, simple bread and soup lunch.
00:53Different people have been making the soup.
00:55And then we've been meeting groups and learning together, reading.
01:00Part of the preparation as a Christian community here
01:05is a particular preparation for those who are going to be baptised
01:10and going to be confirmed on Easter Day, Sunday the 20th.
01:15And our bishop is going to come and lead that.
01:19I think there are eight people, adults, all being baptised, people in their 20s and 30s mainly,
01:26who have come to faith and want to make that public profession.
01:31Easter is the biggest Christian festival because it is the time when we celebrate what is the story of our faith,
01:38that Jesus died for us to allow us to know God, that he was buried and then he rose again.
01:45And that is that triumph of life over death is such an important message of hope for people at the moment in a world which feels lacking in hope.
01:54And we go forward in that to Pentecost when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit,
01:58which gives us the strength to live as Christians.
02:00And as we work our way through the year, we get back to the start of the story with Christmas.
02:05But on Easter Saturday, which is a time of waiting, really, we're going to use that time to celebrate with our families and children
02:14in a way that allows them to explore what is Easter about.
02:19And we're going to do a service here.
02:22We're going to meet here and have a bit of time of refreshment and craft.
02:27You don't have to be a Christian.
02:28You don't have to know where you stand in relation to faith to come here.
02:34And actually, the majority of people who visit, they don't know.
02:40They're wandering.
02:42They're exploring.
02:43Community is a really important thing to us, of being part of this church in the middle of the city
02:51that reflects the diversity of our wonderful city of Leeds, which is an incredibly diverse place.
02:57But it is a welcome for everyone in our city.