Happiness, hugs & Easter joy

Can I begin this morning by wishing you Happy Easter. Whether your happiness is due to relief that your Lenten fast is over, or maybe it is because you are looking forward to Easter eggs or perhaps it is just the surfeit of bank holidays? Whatever the reason, may I wish you and yours a very happy Easter.

As I do so, I realise that I am joining a growing movement; for happiness, it seems, has become very fashionable. Indeed Nobel prize winning economists now tell us that if we really wish to rate the wellbeing of our society, we should not measure economic growth (thank goodness for that!) but rather we should measure happiness. Only the other week a global movement ‘Action for Happiness’ was launched with the strapline that ‘doing good, feels good’. At their launch party they began a campaign of free hugs encouraging people to join the movement and ‘be the change’.

Now our Gospel reading this morning involves a lot of emotions but, surprisingly, happiness is not one of them. Indeed it begins in a very different place. It begins with sadness; the sadness of the two Marys going early to keep watch at the tomb. They arrive still in shock and disbelief that Jesus whom they had followed and loved so much seemed to be no more.

Then there is fear. The fear of the two soldiers guarding the tomb as the ground shakes and an angel appears. Then there is the fear of the women as the angel tells them that Jesus is not there. But then, as the good news begins to sink in, their fear turns to joy as they run to tell the disciples what has happened. Finally, hope turns to rejoicing as they meet the risen Christ.

So on that first Easter morning sadness and fear turn to hope and joy. But there is no report of sadness which by comparison does start to sound a little bland. Happiness of course depends on what may hap. It depends on luck and fortune and is not a very Biblical idea.

Joy, on the other hand, is central. The word from the Greek word ‘Caris’ is a deeper, richer idea related to gifts, generosity and thankfulness. This is the emotion that fills the two Marys as they run to the disciples. This is the joy which overwhelms them when they meet the risen Christ. And this is a joy informed by all that they have endured this week. A joy which knows that life is fragile and that hope is costly.

So what of happiness? Well I am for it- and for any organisation which promotes it. But I would rather that we upgrade to join a movement for joy. And that is what we are invited to do this Easter morning. For this is our launch party- and we offer free hugs every week. For this Easter morning, as Christ bursts from the tomb, we discover that love is stronger than death, that hope is stronger than fear and that come what may the God of love is our beginning and our end.

So this morning I want to wish you not only a Happy Easter but also an Easter filled with joy. A joy that cherishes our fragile lives and fragile world. A joy that will bear us up in costly hope. A joy which overflows, as we too meet the risen Christ in this Eucharist.

Amen.