Spring has sprung and we have already seen the signs of the world’s reawakening: wildflowers in the grass, buds on the trees, and bird song in the crisp cold of the morning. The grey-brown hillsides suddenly are full of verdant greens and wisps of color. As Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God!” The earth is the Lord’s and the Fullness thereof!
Spring always catches me off guard, especially this year, after what has been a fairly mild winter. The lack of snow on the mountains, and our low water table means the possibility of another dry, hot summer. But before that we have the gift of Spring, with its promise of new life.
The Christian church in the northern hemisphere celebrates Easter in the Spring, when these metaphors of resurrection are close at hand. The crocus, the tulip, and daffodil rise up from the earth, the Flora and Fauna reappear, and bare branches of the plum trees come alive, and teem with blossoms. We watch the world wake up, and we are reminded yet again of the Creator’s handiwork.
It was two years ago in March 2020 when everything shut down because of COVID-19. We were then in the season of Lent and the church was already exploring the rhythms of fasting, deprivation, and doing without. Nobody then knew what these past two years would cost us (we didn’t know it would be two years!). We didn’t know the things we would miss out on, the loneliness and hard times. But here we are, it is Spring of the Year of the Lord, 2022. Jesus has been raised from the dead, and the world around you is full of new life, and the old life that our seasons forgot. The world again is alive!
Make sure you take time to enjoy the sights and smells and all the splashes of color that Spring has brought in her wake! This is the season of resurrection, and it is worth enjoying and celebrating! Yes, there will still be hard days ahead and there are issues we are still facing as a culture (e.g. a reeling economy, the peril of war, the menace of summer wildfires, etc.) and personally. The faith that carried us through some difficult days this past two years, will still be a reservoir we will need to draw on. But let’s not rush ahead of ourselves. There is life all around us ready to fill our hearts with wonder. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Pastor James
