From Pastor Adam

Now the green blade rises 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 arising green.

- ELW 379

Even though I am writing this in early April, lately there have been days upon days of gray skies, rain, sleet, and even snow flurries. It has felt like quite a long winter. I find myself checking my weather app on my phone multiple times a day just yearning for some sunshine or gazing out my window to see if any of the buds on the trees have sprouted. I am constantly looking for some hopeful sign that Spring is here to stay.

Although we are nearing the end of Lent, for many of us, it has felt like Lent has lasted over two years now. We have had stripped down, ascetic lives as our plans have been canceled. We have been surrounded by the threat of disease and death. We have had moments of hope squashed by new variants or surges. Many of us are yearning for a light at the end of the tunnel.

This same longing that we are experiencing at the end of a long winter or at the end of a difficult season is the feeling we experience looking forward to Easter. We look around us, desperate for signs of new life. And new life is coming. It is coming in the signs of Spring and it is coming in the form of the empty tomb.

There has been much to mourn which means there is much to celebrate too. I hope your chocolate tastes extra sweet and the laughter of kids or grandkids searching for hidden eggs is like music to your ears. My prayer for you this Easter is that God’s love is revealed to you in new ways and the resurrection is made more real for you.

Spring is coming. Resurrection is coming. God loves you with a love stronger than death.

In Easter Hope,

Pastor Adam