Winter and Ah! Springtime

From Hymn 149:

Verse 2
So daily dying to the way of self,
so daily living to the way of love,
We walk the road, Lord Jesus, that you trod,
Knowing ourselves baptized into your death:
So we are dead and live with you in God

Verse 3
If dead in you, so in you we arise,
you the firstborn of all the faithful dead;
And as through stony ground the green shoots break,
Glorious in springtime dress of leaf and flower,
So in the Father’s glory shall we wake.

Living in the glories of spring in Virginia, we get the visuals of this Lenten hymn and the Gospel lesson on which the hymn is based – “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies…”

We are coming up on Holy Week, where we ponder the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection and, hopefully, think of the mystery of our own death and what God has in store for his beloved children.

We needed winter to get to springtime. We need the winter of betrayal, abandonment, and Suffering to get to Easter. 

-      Brad Norris, Minister of Music