EASTER

I'm so glad it's almost Easter.  The world is Easter-ready.  Today we saw two purple finches courtship-feeding. The male, a rosier shade, delicately passing seed to the female. She, assessing him as a mate for one sitting on the nest and needing a bite now and then.  He was proving his worth, I thought.  He wasn't letting her out of his sight.  He would be a good helpmeet.  

The dwarf red maple is leafed out.  The snap dragons wintered over and are radiant.  Forsythia are just shedding their yellow flowers for vibrant leaves.  Red bud are lining country roads. 

Sundays are marching to Holy Week and ultimately Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.  I haven't been as attuned to Lent as I wished to be. I didn't go to mid-week Lenten services.  I have been following politics and nursing my getting-worse back. I didn't go to Friday afternoon Stations of the Cross. I worry about Gazans and Ukranians and Israeli refugees held by Hamas.  I worry about our country.  When that's too much, I do Wordle and follow college basketball.  Preoccupations and distractions.  

With all the suffering in the world you would think it would be easy to focus on Christ's suffering and death, but that's not necessarily true.  However, that's what our faith requires of us.  From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, we move in step with Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem to the Last Supper, the crucifixion and the Resurrection.  

This is what we do.  We will be ready as we are every year.  We will recognize that the suffering Christ understands our own suffering.  We will know that we are not alone.  We will wait at the tomb and see it empty.  We will share an Easter breakfast with our church friends and hide eggs for the children.  We will pray for peace on earth.  We will align our own renewal with the renewal of the earth.  We will face all that threatens our world with the peace that passes all understanding.  That is what we will do. 

In peace let us pray to the Lord.  Lord have mercy.  AMEN