Together on Easter Sunday, we sang and proclaimed: “Allelulia! Alleluia! Allelulia! Christ is risen! Christ has risen indeed!” In this proclamation, we are reminded of the blessed gift that we receive in Christ’s death and resurrection – the gift of salvation – the gift of new life.

As we have journeyed through Holy Week, to the cross, and witnessed the resurrection of Christ, we have the chance to open our hearts up to receive the resurrection power of Christ by allowing his heart to transform our own. And in being transformed by the love of Christ, we receive this gift of new life. In each new day with the rising of the sun, we are assured of the power of the resurrection – that each new day brings a fresh start – a new beginning!

May this be our individual and collective prayer as we walk the way of Christ and live as people of the resurrection:

“It is spring, Lord, and the land is coming up green again, unfolding outside my well-drawn boundaries and urgent schedules.

And there is the mystery and the smile of it, the willows are dripping honey color into the rivers, and the mother birds are busy in manger nests, and I am learning again that “for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”

O Lord you have sketched the lines of spring. Be with me in my unfolding.

It is spring, Lord, and my blood runs warm with the song of the sap, longing for a beauty I would become. And there is the mystery and the smile of it. The buds are swelling on the bush, the sun is beginning to coax the color from where it’s been curled against the cold, the air is sweet to the nostrils; even the city seems to be rubbing its eyes from a long sleep; and there is a promise in the season. I know no name for except life.

O Lord, you have sketched the lines of spring. Be with me in my longing.

It is spring, Lord, and something stirs in me, reaching, stretching, groping for words, peeking through my defenses, beckoning in my laughter, riding on past my fears, pulsing in my music.

And there is the mystery and the smile of it. Be with me in my reaching so I will touch or be touched, this time, by a grace, a warmth, a light, to unfold my life to a new beginning, a fresh budding, a spring within as well as around me.

O Lord, you have sketched the lines of spring. Be with me in my reaching.”

May we experience God’s grace and love claiming us as the Lord’s own every day. And may the resurrection power set our hearts on fire to go forth to proclaim the Good News of the resurrection through our lives in this world!

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Jenn