Last week I read an article entitled “Now that Easter is Over” and I wanted to shout out NO! Easter is actually a season that goes from Easter Sunday until Pentecost which occurs this year on May 28th. There are seven weeks to the Easter season, a time that is meant to be a joyous celebration of all that Easter means to us. Here in Seattle where we enjoy a slow emerging spring display of beautiful blooms from February through June, it is not hard to recognize that Easter is indeed a season and not just a day. Lilly Lewin in Freerange Friday: Tea and Toast with Jesus talks about the many ways Jesus meets each of his disciples where they are and as they need to be met and how much we need the same experience in this season.
I love that Earth Day falls in the middle of this season too, reminding us that our love of God and joyful celebration of the resurrected Jesus is closely connected to the earth. I celebrated this week with a binge of spring planting. Squash, basil, beans, and nasturtiums have joined the tomato seedlings in our garden room and I excitedly look forward to being able to plant most of them in another couple of weeks. On Friday we enjoyed our first spring salad with salad greens and green onions from the garden. That first salad is always such a satisfying, dare I say sacred, experience.
Last week was both an exciting and a challenging week for me. On Thursday, we enthusiastically welcomed new tenants to our upstairs apartment. The Mustard Seed House is once more a full community of committed Christians who are also enthusiastic gardeners and committed to sustainable living. We also have three dogs to keep us all entertained. Tragically, Sunday, our good friend and construction contractor David who was resurfacing the garage roof in preparation for solar panels to be installed in a few weeks fell from the scaffolding and broke both legs. He was operated on yesterday and hopefully will make a good recovery, but he will be incapacitated for a long time. Prayers are appreciated. It made me realize how vulnerable and fragile we all are and how easily our lives can in change in a minute.
During the week I started reading a beautiful book of poetry I was gifted at the Inhabit conference. Drew Jackson’s delightful poems in a Touch the Earth, which I reflect on in yesterday’s Meditation Monday are a must read for all of us. Poetry is well suited to the expression of our emotions and to the telling of hard truths about injustice. We see it in the Bible as well as in the enriching proliferation of poetry in our society. We were also privileged to have Lindsay Garcia from Young Evangelicals for Climate Action contribute an article about the inspiring work she is involved in. James Amadon, Executive Director of Circlewood also contributed an uplifting article about the hope we can hold onto and spread in the midst of the challenges of climate change.
Sunday 14th, at least here in the U.S. as well as Australia and New Zealand, we celebrate Mother’s Day. I know those of you in the UK celebrated in March but I always think that honouring our mothers, living and dead, cannot be done too frequently so I hope you will join us once more in this joyous remembrance. On Godspace we have several posts from previous years that you might like to check out. The Lap of Jesus is a beautiful liturgy crafted by Emma Morgan, or you might like to check out this very interesting Biblical Maternal Images of God by Shia Chong. Reflecting on the mother heart of God is something I love to do each year. Several years ago I created this video of mothering images and scripture verses, and another on easy DIY projects to honor our mothers. I would love to hear from you about how you honour your mother.
There is nothing quite like spring,
To make me believe in the resurrection.
There is nothing like the love of a friend,
To make me believe God cares.
There is nothing like the beauty of our world,
To make me believe all is worth caring for.
God’s presence shimmers all around.
Many blessings
Christine Sine