April 2022 Newsletter
Yesterday we had rain overnight, snow in the morning, and most of the day it was just that gross slushy soupy mess. After church someone commented on how crumby it was outside because it was. Parents around the area had wondered why school hadn’t at least been delayed. It wasn’t your normal 12 inches of snow sort of reason, but it definitely still felt like winter. Why it’s significant is in my response to his comment: “Seems normal for spring in Wisconsin.” The day or two before had been the technical start of spring. But the point stuck and we both laughed, rarely does the start of spring here in our great state actually feel all that spring-like. Even in the 10-day forecast there is still a 60% chance of snow next week. Winter can come in like a lion and out like a lamb or visa versa and we rarely bat an eye, plus even if you absolutely detest the snow, most are willing to enjoy the look of it on the trees and tolerate it as long as it gets removed from the roads before we need to drive somewhere. Fall has the distraction or anticipation of beautiful tree colors, and the joy of harvest. Summer has the fun of outdoor weather and activities, or vacations. But what does spring have?
Easter! Spring has Easter every year. Even when it falls at its earliest on the first day like in 1818 or 2285 or just after like in 2008 or 2160. This wonderful Holy Day that promises and reminds us of the new life brought to us in Christ’s resurrection. Unlike some days in the church year whose dating receive annual scrutiny like Christmas, or are the church making its own days of importance like Reformation Day, or glomming on to national holidays like Thanksgiving, Easter is fairly unequivocal in its date. The fact that Scripture ties it to Passover, and Passover is tied to the lunar cycle means we can celebrate Holy Week with certainty year in and year out.
Amidst the many changes and uncertainties of our earthly lives, the certainty of Eternal Life in Christ, won for us by His life, suffering, death and resurrection, sealed in the water of Holy Baptism, fed by the Body and Blood of Christ, renewed by Confession and Absolution, and informed by God’s holy Word, finds it’s penultimate expression in the empty tomb of Easter morning. The death of death, the ability to look the place of death and see His body no longer on the cursed tree, to look to the place where His dead body lay and see no body their either, but rather to find in these wonderfully empty locations all that we need to fill our hearts with joy needed for our very souls to spring to life. The look, the sound, the joy, the comfort, the peace, of eternal life comes to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead. Even “amidst the ‘spring’s’ snow.”
in His service,
Pastor Nick