Easter Homily
Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2026
Luke 24: 13-35
Theme: The Common Thread of Grace:
From Whitby to Today
By Fr. Jamie MacLeod
In the name of the Father, Son , and Holy Spirit, Amen.
The Call of the Resurrection
"Peace be with you." These words from our Risen Lord in today’s Gospel are not merely a polite greeting; they are a commissioning.
As we stand in the light of the Third Week of Easter, we find ourselves at the intersection of history and hope.
We are heirs to a faith that traveled across rugged coastlines and through deep forests to reach us a faith that was never meant to be a flickering candle behind closed doors, but a wildfire on the hills.
The Meeting of Two Worlds
In the year 664, the Northumbrian Church stood at a crossroads.
The Synod of Whitby was not just a debate over the date of Easter or the shape of a tonsure; it was a profound moment of seeking unity in a fragmented world.
We recall the giants of that era: St. Hilda, the Great Abbess of Whitby, a woman of immense wisdom and royal blood, who stood as the bridge between traditions.
Local tradition, dear to our hearts, speaks of a meeting in Loftus, near Easington, Saltburn On the Sea.
It is said that Hilda first encountered the spirit of the northern mission on the very ground where All Saints Church now watches over the landscape.
While the cold timelines of history might place their physical lives in different eras, in the "eternal now" of the Church’s Mission, St. Columba and St. Hilda meet at every altar.
Hilda represents the organized, nurturing stability of the English Church, while St Columba the pilgrim for Christ represents the fiery,evangelistic heart of the Celtic Mission.
In Loftus, the "Celtic" fire of Iona met the "Roman" order of the south.
This was not a meeting of bureaucracy; it was a meeting of grace.
It reminds us that before there were cathedrals, there were conversations; before there were canons, there was the simple, urgent sharing of the Good News.
The Witnesses of the North
We look to St. Colman of Lindisfarne, the third Bishop of that Holy Island. At the Synod, he was the voice of the Celtic tradition, defending the beloved customs of the Ionan monks with such integrity that, even in defeat, his holiness remained unquestioned.
When the decision went against him, he did not surrender his conviction; he carried the bones of
St. Aidan and the fire of his fathers back to the west, proving that faith is not a lukewarm hobby, but a life-and-death conviction.
These were not men and women of "maintenance," but of mission.
They did not wait for the world to come to them, they carved their faith into the very stone of the land.
If you travel to Sandbach in Cheshire, you see this physically manifested in the magnificent Saxon Crosses.
These were "preaching crosses" the visual Gospel for the traveler and the peasant alike. They stand as a rebuke to a "dead" church; they are silent witnesses that the Cross must be planted where the people walk.
What Are We Doing Today?
The Synod of Whitby ultimately chose a path of unity, but it did not extinguish the Celtic fire, it blended them.
Today, we face our own "Whitby moments." We live in an age that is increasingly "Post-Christian," Yet hungry for the transcendent.
If the Church feels dead, it is only because we have stopped breathing the air of the Spirit. Evangelism is not an imposition: Like St Paulinus, it is an invitation to the living water. Mission is not a program: Like Hilda, it is the creation of a community where "the peace of the Lord" is tangible.
Unity is not uniformity: Like the Saxon Crosses, our faith must be intricately woven into the public square, visible and unapologetic.
As Anglo - Catholics, we cherish the beauty of holiness,
but let us never let the incense cloud our vision of the world outside the porch.
The mission of the early saints was to make the -
Risen Christ known in every hut, hall, and hilltop.
The Easter Commission
As we celebrate this Eucharist, let us ask ourselves:
What is our "Sandbach Cross"?
What is the visible sign of our faith in our workplace, our schools, and our neighborhoods?
The tomb is empty, and the same Jesus who walked the road to Emmaus walks the lanes of Loftus and the streets of our towns today.
The saints of Whitby, Easington, and York have finished their race, Now, the baton of the Great Commission is in our hands.
Do not settle for a museum faith.
Reclaim the missionary heart of St Columba; embrace the integrity of St Colman; build the hospitality of Hilda.
May the Risen Christ, who stood among the disciples and breathed peace, breathe into us the courage to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen !
He has Risen indeed Alleluia !