April 2005
SPRING HAS ARRIVED!!!
Spring has FINALLY arrived! Oh thank God, spring has arrived... at least its arrived officially. Regardless, we are within a few short days of leaving behind winter’s cold and ice and snow and cloudy gloom for another year. This winter has been our first Michigan winter since leaving Kentucky and I must say, I’m blissfully happy to see this winter go, (I don’t mean to be insulting or to hurt the feelings of all you winter sport enthusiasts). On the brighter side, winter really wasn’t that bad this year; although it seems that we have been waiting for spring for a long, long time. Maybe I’m just used to spring arriving earlier as it did down south. What ever the case may be, spring is here and in that fact we can rejoice.
Spring always seems to bring with it a sense of anticipation of something new. You can sense the change; it’s in the air. There is a fresh energy all around that lifts our spirits and fills us with a renewed sense of elation as we celebrate this time of nature’s rebirth. Spring’s new start is boldly displayed in the greening up of grass and trees, the flowers that exhibit a cornucopia of the colors of God’s wonderful creation. In Union City we have an additional sure sign of spring in the sap buckets and bags as another year’s Maple Syrup production is underway.
Spring brings to mind God’s promise to us in Revelation 21, “Behold, I am making all things new.” The newness and rebirth of what has seemed to be so dead all through the winter months now literally “springs” to life with transformed vitality. It’s interesting that our celebration of Christ’s resurrection, Easter, also comes in the spring. But what would be more appropriate. In Christ we are transformed and given new life. We are set free from sin and made new creations. Spring is a reminder for us of the newness of life that we all have received or that we can receive in Christ Jesus.
Christ frees us from the darkness of the winter of our sin and brings us into the light of new relationship with our Lord and our God. Charles Wesley captured a sense of the joy of the redemption we have through Christ in the words of his hymn “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”:
He breaks the power of canceled sin, he set the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean; his blood availed for me.
He speaks and listening to his voice, new life the dead receive;
the mournful, broken hearts rejoice, the humble poor believe.
The newness and wonder and joy of spring can’t hold a candle to the joy that we experience as Christians – as those set free from our sin and established in renewed relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Thank God for spring. Spring is a powerful reminder of the transforming power of our God who loved us enough to send his only son, Jesus, to be the mediator of the new and lasting covenant with us. A covenant that gives life and life eternal; a covenant offered freely to all who will receive it in faith – if you haven’t, how about today?
Grace and Peace, The Rev. Rob Hughes
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