Three weeks ago, the Lawn of Trinity Church in Lawrence, Kansas, where I'm serving as Interim, was covered with snow. Then, during Easter Week, the snow was gone and the grass is amazingly green. I'm reminded one of my favorite Easter hymns, Now the Green Blade Rises. Take a moment to read these wonderful words of new life, hope, and springtime:
Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.
In the grave they laid Him, Love Whom we had slain,
Thinking that He’d never wake to life again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.
Up He sprang at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Up from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.
When our hearts are saddened, grieving or in pain,
By Your touch You call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.
We all know those seasons of life when things seem frozen, lifeless, hopeless, or entirely unfair. Easter is God's word of hope that life and love will triumph over all that. In the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we find that news most perfectly expressed.
May the Great Fifty Days of Easter be filled with reminders of that good news. And, beyond that, may we all be Easter People throughout the year, bringing that message of hope to others.
Enjoy this video of the Midland Lutheran College Choir singing Now the Green Blade Rises.
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