The deputy leader of an organisation which supports and resources LGBT+ people within the United Reformed Church (URC) has spoken out against Brunei’s strict laws.

On 3 April, Brunei enacted strict laws that made gay sex punishable by stoning to death.

Alex Clare-Young, Deputy Secretary of Beacon: LGBT+ in the URC, was shocked and saddened by the news.

More than 300 people have been killed and hundreds injured in six explosions at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.

The devastation came on one of the most important days in the Christian calendar, Easter Sunday.

The Revd Elizabeth Gray-King, United Reformed Church Programme Officer for Education and Learning, reflects on the meaning of Easter Sunday.

Easter, oh, Easter. Resurrection Sunday. The stunning annual festival of forgiveness power and beautiful transformation reminds us that we are made new again. The Easter liturgy and events, retold in any way, tell us each year that no matter how dead we have felt, no matter how overwhelmed in a tomb-like hold we have been, no matter how we feel or know we almost died, we are able to deeply live again. Easter is what happened to Jesus, and because of Jesus, it happens to us.