April 17, 2022

A blessed and happy Easter, dear friends!
May you find great confidence and hope
in the fact that Christ is risen!

Let’s begin with some beautiful Easter music:

This is the day the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia!
Psalm 118

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Two very good friends once told this part of their story:

They woke up one morning beside each other as they had for fifteen years.
The scent of last night’s acrid argument lingered in the corners of the room.
After a few moments, he turned to her and said,
“We need to learn how to love each other again.
Can we try?”  

Over the course of long-term relationships, the parties change. Phil and Judy wanted to remain committed to their marriage, but they found themselves strangled by years of unpruned misunderstandings. All heart commitments meet similar challenges. All dreams fray a little on their way to fulfillment. 

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We have followed Jesus through Holy Week on such a road. Passover Sunday filled his spirit with the fresh scent of palms and possibilities. But as the week waned, the Father led Jesus in a daunting direction. He asked his Son to pay the ultimate price for love. 

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Our lives too will teach us this: every ride on a palm-strewn road meets a fork toward Gethsemane. There is no true love without sacrifice. But the road does not end at the foot of the cross. Loving sacrifice lifts us to see this morning’s Easter sunrise. The life that had lain hidden in darkness now rises triumphant in our hearts.

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Today, we are offered the grace to live this mystery on our own journeys. Amazingly, Easter invites us to fall in love again with God and to begin our lives anew.

As we try to live good lives in the midst of global shadows, may the Easter Light strengthen us to deepen in faith, hope and love. Yes, darkness can feel like a place of undefined danger, but it can also be the cocoon where the bulb gathers power to break forth in unimagined Life.

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Poetry: An Easter Prayer – Helen Steiner Rice, not a sophisticated poem, but lovely in its simplivcity.

God, give us eyes to see
the beauty of the Spring,
And to behold Your majesty
in every living thing.

And may we see in lacy leaves
and every budding flower
The Hand that rules the universe
with gentleness and power.

And may this Easter grandeur
that Spring lavishly imparts
Awaken faded flowers of faith
Lying dormant in our hearts.

And give us ears to hear, dear God
the Springtime song of birds
With messages more meaningful
than man’s often empty words.

Telling harried human beings
who are lost in dark despair
‘Be like us and do not worry
for God has you in his care.’

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Music: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth – George Frideric Handel

I know that my redeemer liveth
And that he shall stand
At the latter day, upon the earth
I know that my redeemer liveth
And that he shall stand
At the latter day, upon the earth
Upon the earth

I know that my redeemer liveth
And he shall stand
Stand at the latter day, upon the earth
Upon the earth

And though worms destroy this body
Yet in my flesh shall i see God
Yet in my flesh shall i see God

I know that my redeemer liveth
And though worms destroy this body
Yet in my flesh shall i see God
Yet in my flesh shall i see God
Shall i see God

I know that my redeemer liveth
For now is Christ risen from the dead
The first fruits of them that sleep
Of them that sleep
The first fruits of them that sleep
For now is Christ risen
For now is Christ risen from the dead
The first fruits of them that sleep