Dear Friends,

It is something done easily, and often – to see signs of spring as signs of Easter. Budding branches and blooming flowers – the return of warmth and light, all those aspects of the turning of the season are used in connection with the Easter proclamation. However, for half of the earth, Easter comes as autumn approaches. Our brothers and sisters in New Zealand or Argentina may not see those symbols in quite the same way. And Easter is about more than the inevitable return of that which we know and expect to happen. At the heart of the Easter message is the great unexpectedness of the resurrection.

Still, I could not resist sharing this photo with you:

These crocuses greeted me as I approached the Parish House on Tuesday. And as much as I know that spring is coming, and that the snow is melting, after this particular winter this sudden burst of color was surprising and welcome indeed.

I hope you will join us for the whole arc of our celebration in the next few days. Come for the familiar hymns and readings, the gathering at the table tonight and at the foot of the cross tomorrow night. Come for the retelling of the whole story of God’s good and gracious work in the world at the Easter Vigil. Come on Sunday for what you know and expect to hear, but more importantly come for what is new and unexpected: new thoughts, new insights, and new ways in which God will surprise us with the Good News of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

Faithfully,

Tom