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As spring blossoms all around us, may our hearts also bloom with love and peace.
Misery Be Gone
On the Sunday after Easter, some churches celebrate “holy humor.” Laughter is a gift from God, who wants us to be joyful. A happy disposition is also an effective — and infectious — way to share our faith.
“I cannot think that when God sent us into the world, he had irreversibly decreed that we should be perpetually miserable in it,” said John Wesley. “If … taking up the cross [implies] bidding adieu to all joy and satisfaction, how is it reconcilable with what Solomon expressly affirms of religion, that ‘her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace’?” (Proverbs 3:17, KJV).
Thoughts about
The message of Easter is not only that Christ is risen, not only that suffering is not the last word, not only that God gives new life, but this: Nothing is impossible with God. ~The Rev. James Martin, S.J.
“Easter is the soul’s first taste of spring.” ~Richelle Goodrich
“When Jesus went to the cross, he got crucified and Satan got nailed!” ~Dr. Harry Wendt
Spring Cleaning
Sweep over me, Lord
And brush out my sin!
Replace it with faith,
And live here within.
Amen.
~Peggy Ferrell, from Prayers and Poems
Raise Your Voice
With happy voices ringing,
thy children, Lord, appear,
their joyous praises bringing
in anthems sweet and clear.
For skies of golden splendor,
for azure rolling sea,
for blossoms sweet and tender,
O Lord, we worship thee.
~William Tarrant
A Puzzle and a Color Picture
Use the clues to complete words with various vowel arrangements.
Then place the circled letters in the correct blanks below to
complete an Easter phrase.
A Sign of Spring
In The Story of the Easter Robin (Zonderkidz), Dandi Daley Mackall retells an old Pennsylvania Dutch tale of the robin’s compassion as he witnessed Jesus’ death.
On Good Friday, a plain brown robin flying over Jerusalem was curious about the “nest” atop Jesus’ head. When the bird realized it was a crown of thorns, he tried to dislodge it. As the robin pulled out a long thorn from Jesus’ forehead, a drop of blood landed on the bird’s breast, staining it red. Now the robin’s red breast is a symbol of Jesus’ loving sacrifice, and the robin’s early-spring song is a reminder of Jesus’ joyful resurrection.
Agent for Change
A cartoon depicts a man at a podium firing up a crowd. “Who wants change?” he shouts. You can almost hear the excitement and urgency. “We do!” the listeners cry, all raising their hands.
But the next frame features a follow-up question: “Who wants to change?” The audience is silent and somber, with their hands down.
The gospel Jesus announced and lived out promises monumental change: life instead of death, healing from sickness, hope to replace despair, peace and justice instead of war and oppression. Although God could wave his hand and make the world perfect, he chooses to work through humans. That means we must be willing to change too.
Change can be scary, but God’s newness will so transform the world — and us — that we’ll never miss our old, broken reality.
~Heidi Mann