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The Vicar's Moment
from The Voice of St. Stephen's
"April showers bring May flowers is a tiny poem most of us learned in childhood. While it can be traced back to a book of husbandry written in the 16th century, where Thomas Tusser wrote, with practical intent, "Sweet April showers do spring May flowers" it has endured as a simple litany of optimism, that we might endure with faith the tension of April's grey clouds taunting us with expectation, drenching little crocus blooms which peek out of their warming beds in promise of Spring, which soon bursts forth in extravagant certainty as life rushes back to the land.
So it is with our own rebirth, the restoring of our souls in the cycle of God's seasons, emerging from the somber meditations of Lent, the raindrops of sin and sorrow, to the miracle of Easter, our hearts bursting forth in the extravagant certainty that death is overcome by our new life in Christ.
We are reminded in this season that we are the flowers He brings to life through the water of Baptism, dying to sin with Christ on the Cross, lying buried with him in the bleakest hour of his winter, knowing that in Him alone lies the seed of the Resurrection and our eternal Spring of entering into God's kingdom.
They say in Spring a young man's thoughts turn to Love. Indeed, our love for one another is but a reflection of the love God gave to the world. This scripture from Song of Solomon is most often heard at marriages, yet today, this Easter season, let it sing for you as a celebration of the great love God gave the world in His Son, our Lord and Savior, so often in scripture referred to as the bridegroom, to evoke a love we can understand.
Song of Solomon 2:10-13, 8:6-7
10 My lover spoke and said to me,
"Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, and come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me."
Jesus said."I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
We celebrate Spring as God's gracious renewal of the earth for our joy and survival. It is fitting that in this time of sensual joy we celebrate Christ's glorious resurrection as God's promise of our new life in him forever. That life is Love. The fruit is Love.
by Rev. Aletha Bonebrake