Aren’t you just loving this spring weather? Here we are several days into spring, and yes, I do believe the snow piles are disappearing a little bit. Today, Friday, it is actually supposed to get up into the 40’s, with partly cloudy or, if you want to take the more positive perspective, partly sunny skies!! The sun will feel good. With these slightly warmer temperatures, we have noticed that we are starting to see more people out on the walking paths. People are starting to emerge from their homes. I hear people talking more about spring!
Now I realize that even though the calendar may tell us we are in the season of spring, it doesn’t necessarily feel like it. As I look at the 10-day forecast for Mitchell, it still appears that every night the temperatures will be below freezing. It’s even possible that next week there will be another chance of snow or some sort of wintry precipitation as a part of our weather. Sidenote: I always tell people that the worst blizzard I experienced while living in Devils Lake, North Dakota happened in early April. So, even though we are living in the days of spring, it maybe doesn’t feel like it. But there is hope! Spring, new life, new beginnings are coming. We just have to be patient!
This image or reality of spring is fitting for the church season we find ourselves in. We are living in the season of Lent, which is generally seen as a more somber, reflective, or some would even say it’s a dark or heavy season of the church year. Yet in the midst of the darkness or somberness, I hear of plans being made for Easter. Resurrection day…new life is before us.
If we look around, we can see signs of spring, such as what I mentioned above. People are starting to emerge from their homes more, we’re seeing more people on the bike path, the snow piles are receding in our front and back yards. We’ve even noticed that when we turn Sophie out into the back yard to go potty, sometimes she chooses to simply lay outside on the deck because the temperatures are warmer. But the biggest sign of spring…Nancy sent me a picture just the other day that shows her tulips just starting to push up from the ground. It won’t be long before the trees will start budding and the grass will start turning green. Once again, Spring and new life is coming upon us and it’s closer than we realize!
This is basically the message that Jesus shares with some of his friends and disciples in John 11. In this story, Jesus’ friend Lazarus has died. Lazarus’ two sisters, Mary and Martha, are grieving and mourning the loss of their brother. In conversation with Martha, Jesus tells her that Lazarus will rise again. Martha admits that she knows he’ll come back to life in the resurrection of the “final days.” It’s then that Jesus gives Martha a message that hints to her that resurrection is closer than she realizes. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Then moments later Jesus calls Lazarus to come out of the tomb…and he does! New life is realized!!
Today we are living with the tiredness of winter. We are tired of the cold and the unpredictability of winter weather; we’re tired of shoveling or chopping or slipping on ice. We’re tired of bundling up in multiple layers just to stay warm outside. And the other truth is, we are tired of the chaos of our world, we’re tired of the darkness that seems to be present in our world, we are tired of the divisiveness and the biting words that seem ever present. We are tired of the somberness of Lent. My friends, know this, new life is possible. New life is coming! New life is closer than we realize!! Hang on…change is coming, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life!!
Learning Lovingkindness,
Pastor Keith