“Elijah was a man just like us… he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops…”
James 5:17-18

As we celebrate Earth Day this week, we do have much to celebrate.  It is entirely appropriate to look back 39 years and to rejoice in the real progress that has been made in many areas.  Just this morning I was having breakfast with an older friend who remembers well the state of the Nashua River in Fitchburg, MA, before the Earth Day-inspired legislative reforms like the Clean Water Act caused the local paper industry to change the way it did business. 

“I am making everything new!” Rev. 21:5

It is not a coincidence that Easter occurs in the springtime.

Spring is exciting, especially for those of us who live in the frozen north, as we do in Wisconsin.  Returning to our house recently, my wife and I pause and glance over our flower beds as we do often at this time of year.  This time she gives a little cry of joy:  Hidden beneath dead leaves and other leftovers from winter isa spot of green.  As we bend to look, we see another and then another: the first signs of resurrection.  Frozen in below-zero soil just a few weeks ago, the flowers are coming back to life.

As we look around what is still a pretty dismal landscape, we realize that these tiny dabs of green are not the only sign of hope.  We look carefully at the branches of the lilac bush in the corner.  Sure enough – it has buds.  We realize that the strange sound we hear is birds chirping in bare branches, as if like Aslan they can sing the leaves back onto the trees. The miracle of springtime is unfolding all around us.  No matter how cold and endless the winter has seemed, and no matter how weak our faith, spring always comes.  It comes with an explosion of new life, with fresh light, with vibrant new colors, with sounds of birds and water and melting snow.  It is the sights and sounds of life overwhelming death.  The outcome may have seemed in doubt a short time ago, but today the end is clear:  Winter’s defeat is inevitable.  Spring is going to win.