As I write on the morning of April 5th the temperature outside is only 35 degrees. Snow still blankets much of the ground. The skies are gray and gloomy. There is a foggy mist hanging in the air.
But as I look out the window of my study there is much more to see. Robins sit among the still bare branches of the oak trees. They glance around, hopping from branch to branch. All the while they chatter with their friends. They are scanning for food and for a good place to build a nest.
Meanwhile the squirrels, young and old, bring another language to the backyard cacophony as they busily move across the ground gathering food, then scamper up a tree to sit and have their breakfast.
All evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, there is abundant life here within this rather barren landscape. I am reminded of the miracle that life abounds on this planet, even in the most unlikely places. Life is everywhere, from the desserts to the deepest ocean trenches, from the deep-frozen poles to the sweltering jungles. Life seems irrepressible.
All of this can lead me to think that life is natural, to be expected, that it is death that is unnatural. But I know that is not true. Aging, death, decay, are part of all life in time. And this is where we live.
While seeds can be planted and they will naturally sprout again, it is not so with human beings. When human beings die and are placed in the ground, we do not wait around for them to return so that we can continue with our life together. At least not here, now.
We are mortal beings, not immortal. Our life is a gift that comes from God, and it returns to God. The miracle is that God, in Christ, has chosen to give that life back to us in a new and revised combination of body and spirit. So that we may live a life no longer constricted by sin and death.
We believe not in immortality, something we possess as humans. But in resurrection of the dead, the work of God, in Christ, on our behalf and on behalf of the whole world. We are still moving through the semi-darkness and gloom of our time and place.
Yet, there are faint rays of light all around if we look for them. The shadows we begin to see, prove the sunshine. God is on the move. The resurrection and the life are dawning even now!
Join us as we walk toward the light of resurrection this Holy Week. We worship together on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday at 7:00 p.m. each evening and we gather for a celebration of Resurrection Life, on Easter Sunday at 9:00 a.m.