New Beginnings
The weather is getting warmer, the snow has melted, and there are crocuses popping up in my yard. At least in this part of the Northern Hemisphere, where seasons bear some distinction, nature cooperates in showing us new life as Easter approaches. There is something about longer days and the freshness of Spring growth that helps us feel hope deep in our bones. It is the season of new beginnings.
Throughout our Lenten sermon series “A Journey to Hope,” we have talked about the various things we need to jettison on our spiritual pilgrimage toward Easter as well as the things that we need to hold close. We may need to get rid of a poor self-image or a “me first” attitude toward money and possessions. We might instead need to develop disciplines of prayer, forgiveness, compassion and generosity. The goal in all of this is not to flagellate ourselves or to work our way to righteousness by our own efforts. It is rather to be honest about where and how we sin, and to create the emotional openness for God to meet us and heal us there. On the Journey to Hope we are clearing space for new growth.
Many of you have made use of the resources on our Lenten Disciplines table in the Sanford Davis Room to aid you in clearing that space. In the weeks following Easter, we will encourage you to continue building healthy habits of the soul by focusing on the small book that we have made available on the table – Bishop Rueben Job’s Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living. Bishop Job highlights the three rules John Wesley bequeathed to Methodists who wanted to live a life pleasing to God. “Do no harm; do good; and stay in love with God."
Stay with us throughout April as we explore these deceptively simple guides to Christian living. Don’t close off that space you’ve created on the Journey to Hope. Keep it open so that Christ can exercise the miracle of resurrection in your life.
Walter Brueggeman is fond of using “Easter” as a verb and I have come to appreciate the wisdom of that sentiment. My prayer is that God will Easter each of you, that you will open yourselves to the possibility of being Eastered, and that the community and the world would be Eastered through you.
In Christ,
Tom
