Guthrie back at Today desk after mother's disappearance

Savannah Guthrie has returned to NBC's Today show anchor desk for the first time in more than two months since her mother's disappearance, saying "it is good to be home".

"Here we go, ready or not," Guthrie said as the show opened on Monday.

"Let's do the news."

Guthrie has acknowledged that she is a changed person and that it's hard to go forward not knowing what happened to Nancy Guthrie, who authorities believe was taken against her will from her Arizona home.

Despite an intense search involving thousands of federal and local officers and volunteers, there has been no sign of the 84-year-old mother of three since she was reported missing February 1.

As part of a video message released by her New York church on Easter Sunday, Guthrie spoke about feeling "moments of deep disappointment with God, the feeling of utter abandonment".

But she said the resurrection was not fully celebrated "if we do not acknowledge the feelings of loss, pain, and yes, death".

In announcing her return to NBC's flagship morning show, Guthrie said she was uncertain whether she still felt as if she still belonged.

"It's hard to imagine doing it because it's such a place of joy and lightness," she said just over a week ago on Today during her first interview since the disappearance.

"I can't come back and try to be something that I'm not. But I can't not come back because it's my family."

Guthrie, one of morning television's most recognisable faces, has been a co-anchor on Today since 2012, and there had been a great deal of speculation about whether she would return.

The Guthrie family has offered a $US1 million ($A1.5 million) reward for information leading to the recovery of their mother.

Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will after finding blood near the doorstep of her home in the foothills outside Tucson.

The FBI later released surveillance videos showing a masked man on the porch that night.

But attention has faded from an investigation that was declared to be a top priority for the FBI and local authorities.

Investigators have not released new evidence in weeks and say the number of tips has slowed.

Early on, Guthrie said she and her siblings responded to two ransom messages that they believed were real and offered to pay.

Guthrie said her celebrity status might be the reason her mother was taken but that possibility was "too much to bear."