Rev Roberta Topham, Minister at Christchurch URC and Methodist Partnership Church

ON Easter Monday, I had a pleasant encounter in Middleton Woods that reminded me of how much we are all affected by the place we live and the people who share it with us. We were walking up into the woods to see the bluebells and we met a woman who was leaving. We exchanged the usual greetings of “hello” and “it’s a lovely day”, adding a comment on how the sunshine had perhaps brought the blue bells out early this year. And the woman, sensing our shared interest, stopped and spoke with passion about how the bluebells were the best she had ever seen over many years. And she wished us well in our visit. Her enthusiasm certainly sent us on our way in a positive spirit. It was quite quickly evident that she was right and that there was a fantastic display to see. In fact, everyone we met in the woods was keen to share their good experience of the blue bells this year.

A bank holiday weekend brings out many of us to enjoy the countryside attractions of West and North Yorkshire. Sometimes sharing this space works more smoothly than others. On Easter Saturday when we went out for a day trip we couldn’t get up a particular narrow road to make a visit because others had parked along the sides making it impassable to two-way traffic. This focus on self to the extent of ignoring the impact it would have on others contrasted sharply with the good-natured encounter later in the blue bell woods.

And we have, of course, just had the huge fire last Saturday night on Ilkley Moor. Whatever the factors that started the fire, all of us who live in Ilkley were affected by the smoke pouring over the town, the road closures around it, and we share a sense of loss for this well used amenity, and the wildlife that has lost its habitat or been destroyed.

All of this is a reminder of our connectedness to the planet we live on and the people we share it with. “No man is an island”, as John Donne wrote in 1624. No one is entire by themselves. We are each inter-dependent. We each affect one another and when one suffers we all suffer. This is true not only in relation to the people we share life with but also the place we live. This Easter time has seen many protesters in London arrested for bringing their concerns about climate change to the fore. They are a reminder that people like me who love the blue bells woods and the moor, and are sometimes tempted to criticise others for their selfishness, are often not as alert to our impact on the planet as we need to be to ensure a future for us all.

Easter is a time when Christians celebrate Jesus’ life and his death. In his life we recognise that he encountered all kinds of people, those who were held in high esteem and those who were on the margins of their communities. In his death, we are reminded that we are all equally deserving of God’s love and forgiveness. The resurrection is a calling to new life for everyone and for the whole of our living planet. Easter offers us an opportunity to ponder how we might share new life with everyone and together support the regeneration of our moorland environment.