The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!
And so are the daffodils and tulips, the azaleas and magnolias. Everything about Christ’s Resurrection points to new life, to renewal! It’s no accident that we celebrate Easter in springtime when Earth is irrepressibly bursting into bloom. It’s not coincidental that the biblical account we call “The Easter Story” is set in a garden. Earth demonstrates to us that even after the bleakest of winters, green shoots spring up; Easter shows us that even after the darkest of tragedies, fresh hope pushes through. Hallelujah!
Easter Day (April 21) and Earth Day (April 22) exist in close proximity on this year’s calendar. Being that LIFE is at the center of both occasions, it’s not a bad mash-up. Maybe this is a good week to contemplate what it means to embrace a stewardship of life, and to recognize it as our privilege to tend lovingly to what God has created.
In his book Song of a Scientist: The Harmony of God-Soaked Creation, Dr. Calvin B. DeWitt (a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin) weaves together strands of both science and theology to compel Christians to honor God by being mindful and careful of Creation. He encourages us to do just what scripture recommends: behold! He suggests that we get busy beholding, up close, the natural world around us. And he reminds us that we are “guard-eners of land and life!”
If you’d like some ideas for spiritual practices to help you be a guard-ener to honor Creation, check out: https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/naming-the-days/view/10964/earth-day-12-spiritual-practices-to-honor-the-earth
written by Pastor Christine Johnson
6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’
Luke 24:6-7
