AS you read this you might be one of the many thousands who will this Easter weekend take to the roads, or the planes if you are lucky, to seek the sun as well as taking the opportunity to get away from it all.

And why not?

Who is going to turn down the chance to have a four-day holiday at the beginning of spring? Or you might be one of those who just want a quiet long weekend at home.

In our secularised society this is exactly what Easter means to many.

The fact that this weekend is the most important date in the Christian calendar will matter to only a small percentage of the population in any town, city or village.

This indifference is a contributing factor to the controversial scene in the Monty Python film Life of Brian when Eric Idle and the Python characters, while being crucified, sing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

Politicians and many churches condemned this film for outright blasphemy when it was first screened.

Personally, I find no connection between the silly antics of the Python team and the fact that Jesus died the brutal death of a common thief by crucifixion.

So why should the deeper meaning of Easter matter?

In a recent Lenten meditation, the Bishop of Salisbury told the moving story of a headteacher in the Salisbury Diocese whose school was burnt down.

He, staff and parents were completely traumatised by this horrific occurrence.

But they had to move on.

So a new school was built with some of the nails recovered from the ashes and debris of the original building.

The headteacher gave one of the nails to the Bishop and said “see what you can do with this”. The disfigured nail had been transfigured into a new opportunity that brought hope for the future.

This weekend churches will joyfully celebrate the Resurrection; Jesus rising from the dead. Some will have their first service at dawn.

Church buildings will be lavishly decorated with flowers as they will be celebrating an event which changed not just the lives of the first disciples but also the course of human history.

The resurrection of Jesus continues to make its mark on everyone. For we all have experiences of being disfigured and then discovering that we can be transfigured after all. Let’s see what we can do with our new opportunities.

Happy Easter.