Easter: Gardening for New Life

One year my family and I moved into a new house. The backyard was large with lots of trees and grass. There was one oddity to the yard, a 3 by 5 foot section that was weed-filled. We figured it must have been an herb garden at one time, but now it was nothing but entangled weeds, the result of years of neglect. Not long after we moved in my husband, Dan, and I, decided to dig up the weedy section and let it return to grass. So we took shovels and went outside and tried to dig. We tried and tried, but to no avail. The weeds were too thick and the ground was too impacted by weeds, completely root bound. We called a landscaper to come help, and a few days later a couple of guys showed up with shovels. I started to laugh and thought to myself, "This I have to see." The guys made a valiant effort to dig here, then there. But after several vain attempts they gave up and left. A few hours later they returned with a tractor and dug up that root bound piece of earth. Afterward we filled it in and planted grass. The next spring green grass was growing everywhere. And then something odd happened. Tulips started to pop through the earth and the grass in the section we'd pulled up. The weed bound, life sucking section was now producing gorgeous tulips. Every spring thereafter tulips would pop up and bloom.

The season of Lent has come and gone. A season when we are asked to consider the weed infected, root bound, life taking areas of life and consider what we can dig up, let go of, or let die, in order for new life to take root and bloom. What are the ways that we are crowding God out, leaving no room, no place, no time for God in our lives? And, if we have lived through Lent effectively we have dug up those root bound places and made room for God, so that now, in the season of Easter, God can bring forth new life in and through us.

Some believe that the resurrection of Jesus was an actual embodied event, that Jesus really appeared in his body. Others, especially in this day and age, doubt the full embodiment of Jesus. But even still something happened 2000 years ago. Some kind of resurrection occurred and Jesus was made known again to the disciples. How is that Jesus will appear again, this year? What kind of resurrection will we encounter?

If we have made room for God to be in our lives, if we take the time to look at our lives, we will see God anew in many ways. Life giving ways.

Some of the ways we symbolize new life and the resurrection in this church can be seen in the alleluias. Our kids made these alleluias and buried them in that box, the tomb, on the first Sunday of Lent. There they stayed, hidden, until yesterday when we unearthed them and hung them on the windows for all to see. Then we tipped the box over and filled it with eggs, with new life.

We also see signs of new life in the plants and flowers that fill this space. In lighter colors, the incense, and the music. These celebrate the idea that out of despair God always brings forth new life and hope. In these next few weeks, through Pentecost on May 20th, pay attention to how and when God appears anew in your life, what new signs of life is God pulling forth in you? What are the signs of resurrection in your life? 

God is the gardener of our souls, planting seeds for new life, working with us to nurture and grow the fruits of faith. May you have a blessed Easter this day, and in the days to come.