LILACS AND WATER
May 2006
for the Collect, publication for St. Thomas Episcopal Church,
Medina, WA
Every spring, the weather can’t change fast enough for me. At the first hint of lilacs, the spell of winter is broken, and I become restless. My wife laughs behind my back as I say, “Yes, this weather is wonderful, but if only it were ten degrees warmer …”
Warmer weather means the sheep can be kept outside at night. The vine and the branches grow profusely—especially the blackberries—and it becomes conceivable (if not advisable) to go swimming.
Springtime is the home of that ancient pagan festival called Easter, a festival we have reinvented as the centerpiece of Christianity. The essence of Easter hasn’t changed; it’s still all about the cycle of death and resurrection. The seed goes down into the earth and sprouts new life. The Easter Bunny is a suitable symbol of fertility, but Jesus shows us the ultimate self-sacrificing love that cannot be contained by death, the love that forms the structure of God’s universe.
We Christians recognize that new life takes time to bloom. That’s why Easter isn’t just one day; it’s a fifty-day season, and this year it stretches from April 16 until the Day of Pentecost on June 4.
A year ago, I wrote an article for the Collect called “Go Deeper,” and that phrase became the theme for this year’s Youth Group activities. We’re going deeper into our faith by learning to trust each other more. We’re going deeper by doing more work in the world, preparing for our journey to El Salvador. And we’re going deeper by welcoming newcomers into our midst.
On Pentecost Sunday, 14-year-old SoAngela Hardt, a newcomer to St. Thomas, will be baptized by water and the Holy Spirit, and the St. Thomas Youth Group will lay hands on her as her sponsors for baptism. This is a joyful crowning for our Youth Group year: a teenager standing up and saying, “I am aware that I belong to God, and I will allow that realization to guide me as I move toward adulthood.” There is no better thing we can do with our time in Youth Group than to help prepare SoAngela for baptism.
I’ve heard it said that becoming a man or a woman is a gift from God, but becoming an adult is something we must each earn. I pray that SoAngela’s baptism will be for her a major step toward adulthood, deepening her self-awareness, her confidence, and her love for others. And I pray that her baptism will have a similar effect on the Youth Group, opening them up to new possibilities and entirely new realms of caring. Adolescence can be a fearful time, but perfect love casts out fear.
Do you smell those lilacs? Spring is here. Death has been conquered. New life is springing forth at St. Thomas.