THE Archbishop of York has preached at the Easter Sunday Eucharist Service at York Minster.

Dr John Sentamu referred in his sermon yesterday back to a 1965 song from The Animals, in which they sang: “We gotta get out of this place.. there’s a better life for me & you!”

York Press:

He said: “But what of Jesus of Nazareth? The disgraced, humiliated & crucified Jesus broke out of the tomb to release us into a new way of living.

“We need his love&power to help us break out of “prisons”, tombs, “coffins of dead hopes” that confine us by prejudices, addictions, idols.

“We can have the new life that Jesus offers. It is a life of forgiveness, & the healing of hurts. We gotta get out of this place…” A place of despond, doubt, fear and unbelief. ‘There is a better life for me & you.”

Dr Sentamu spoke of how Mary Magdalene encountered the Risen Lord in a ‘transformational moment’ and went to the disciples with joyful tiding

He asked: “Are we sometimes so caught up in & by the events that we do not spend enough time reflecting on the experience & testimony of the women?

“How can we rekindle the sense of wonder & recapture for ourselves the joy & mystery of the Resurrection?

Meanwhile,the Minster’s bells rang out across York again before the service, a visiting team of bellringers going into the tower to ensure the long-standing Easter tradition continued to be maintained.

The cathedral controversially axed its entire team of 30 volunteer ringers last autumn over safeguarding concerns but advertised earlier this year for its first paid ‘head of bell tower’ as it prepared to recruit a replacement band of ringers.