Warm Days and New Life

Today was the first warm day in a long, long time. It got up to the mid-70s for the first time in what feels like ever, but in reality was probably just about six months ago. It had been a long winter! In fact, here in Minnesota it's been a record breaking one--the harshest, most persistently cold winter in 35 years. We had several weeks of nothing above zero, and during those days when we wore two layers of long underwear, wool socks, snow boots, multiple sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves, and still felt cold, it seemed like the end would never come. Actually, the worst days were probably in March when it seemed so tantalizingly close, and those of up who grew up in warmer climates started to get really, really fed up with the continued drizzly-snowy 20s-30s. When the weather is that bad for that long, our moods start to reflect it. "How are you?" somebody would ask. "Cold. Tired. Depressed. Ugh."

But today was perfect, and not just because of the glorious, breezy mid-70s weather. For me, it started out with a quick warm up followed by two amazingly awesome Easter services. It probably sounds funny to describe a church service as "awesome" but it was. Despite being buried under a robe that I'm pretty sure heated up all those who wore them to about the point of combustion, and despite standing on sore feet for prayer after prayer and hymn after hymn, and despite the crowds, the exhaustion of holy week, and all that's wrong in the world, somehow, for me, it lightened everything. The same way that the warm weather finally melted the last, stubborn bits of snow, Easter services where we sang lots of high notes and heard a great sermon and sat together with friends to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, today somehow melted away for me a lot of what's wrong in the world and my life. It melted away a lot of uncertainty, for what the future might hold once I graduate from seminary in a couple months, and it melted away the anxiety, at least for a little while, of the situation in Ukraine. Today served as a reminder that, as Jason Gray writes in one of his wonderful songs: "Winter can make it seem like spring was never true, but every winter breaks upon the easter lily's bloom." In other words, the lily opens, the snow melts, we figure out who we are and what we're doing in our lives, and bad political situations do get resolved. Tragedies are grieved, and new life comes from them. That's what this day is all about. It was a perfect little snatch of the paradise we are promised in God's future. It's here, or at least it was today, for me.

My perfect day is not everybody's. Families in South Korea are currently grieving for the loss of possibly as many as two hundred or more lost in the ferry accident, and residents in the cities in eastern Ukraine are trying to go about their lives while armed men hold down their government buildings, and depression is real, and grief is real, and frustration is real, and that may have been today for you. But the thing is, even though it seems like the last time you had a perfect day was far away, it was there, as Jesus stood outside his own empty tomb, it was there. And at the same time, those lovely days, those good and beautiful days are promised to us. Jesus is with you in your winter, and Jesus will bring you to Easter again. As sure as he stood there before his puzzled disciples who touched the wounds on his hands and feet, you will also feel warmth on your face and a sense of love and well being in your heart. Happy Easter to you. Know that wherever you are in this journey of your life, Christ is leading you to Easter right now in your day to day grind, and in the life to come. Winter can never remain because Christ is risen! Alleluia!