Signs of Life
It might hit 75-degrees in Chicago today and spring is suddenly in the air!
While I love this time of year – the smell of the earth, the sudden appearance of green and growing things – it often corresponds with the season of Lent on the church calendar.
Nature’s new life and Jesus’ journey to the cross might seem to be ill-suited companions.
However, even as Jesus walked courageously toward Jerusalem – fully knowing what was in store for him there – signs of goodness, life, and healing kept breaking out around him nonetheless. The Gospel of Mark records Jesus healing “Blind Bartimaeus” along the way. The Gospel of Luke records the remarkable story of Jesus calling out to Zacchaeus, their lunch, and Zach’s subsequent change of heart and salvation. And the Gospel of John records the death – and resurrection! – of Lazarus of Bethany, one of Jesus’ own besties according to the Gospels.
So, perhaps, it is entirely fitting to notice, celebrate, and remember that God is still bringing signs of life all around us even as Calvary and the pall of Good Friday loom on the horizon.
Christians – of all people – should cheer the emergence of daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips. God’s faithfulness is felt in the turning of the seasons as well as on the old rugged cross.
Indoors, there are plenty of signs of life, too. This coming Sunday we’ll have the joy of baptizing two children into the Family of God. There’s no greater evidence of God at work in our midst! And this coming Sunday we’ll continue our walk through the story of Jesus-and-Lazarus in John chapters 11-12. The fragrance of life intermingled with the stench of death runs through the whole narrative.
There’s an old English carol that perfectly sums up the paradox of life and death for me this time of year (it’s a bit obscure and I'm not sure we’ve ever sung it at ECRC), part of the text goes like this:
Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain
Love lives again, that with the dead has been
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green
When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain
Jesus' touch can call us back to life again
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green
So even though the curtain may be drawn for a few weeks on Sunday morning, and the colors in the sanctuary might temporarily trend toward dark and heavy, please keep your eyes open for the signs of spiritual life that are breaking out around you, too. And let’s thank God for both!
– Pastor Gregg