1 Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
love lives again, that with the dead has been:
love is come again, like wheat arising green.
2 In the grave they laid him, love by hatred slain,
thinking that he would never wake again,
laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen;
love is come again, like wheat arising green.
This Easter morning we found our way to Trenton United Church for worship and got to sit in a pew with two of our three children's households while our son presided. It felt closer to normal, whatever normal is now, despite the absence of the third family. And we celebrated the resurrection in word and song...and masks.
We also did a little tour of our yard where the garlic is up in a raised bed, the tulips have triumphantly emerged, and buds are evident on flowering trees. Last week Ruth planted rows of lettuce and swiss chard, and we'll wait for their "resurrection" in the days ahead.
You may have seen the cover article of a recent Broadview magazine with the title "if Jesus Were a Gardener." I enjoyed the artwork and the piece, in part because it brought back memories of Easter morning services. In several congregations I did a quick change during a hymn and emerged in coveralls and a straw hat, pushing a wheelbarrow filled with soil.
In one of those congregations a willing parishioner who was a gardener planted dozens of marigold seeds in small pots weeks before Easter so that we could festoon the top of the pile of soil with the seedlings and hand them out following the service. I spoke about how Mary mistook her beloved Jesus for a gardener in her grief only to have a resurrection faith come into bloom.
This coming Friday is April 22nd, which is Earth Day, and it customary to celebrate Earth Sunday the weekend before. I doubt that many congregations did so today for lots of reasons, yet the imagery of resurrection promise for all of Creation is powerful, especially in a time when we are so aware of human devastation of the planet which sustains us. We need the hope of the Creator's new life and Christ's New Life, especially after the unholy Holy Week experienced in Saskatchewan and Manitoba!
We didn't sing this Easter hymn which is a hundred years old and set to a quirky medieval French carol tune. It is curiously appropriate, just the same.
Christ is Risen, Christ is risen indeed!
3 Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
he that for three days in the grave had lain;
raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen;
love is come again, like wheat arising green.
4 When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
your touch can call us back to life again,
fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been;
love is come again, like wheat arising green.
https://broadview.org/if-jesus-were-a-gardener/
Illustration: Chiara Ghigliazzad
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