Shade Tree Wisdom 4/5/10

There was just a faint mist on the windshield as we drove to church Easter morning, that turned into cloudy, which gave way to sunshine the rest of the day, making for a wonderful celebration. This morning started warm and cloudy, but now it is sunny again. The good news is that with all that cold and plenty of rain days this early, the display of spring flowers will be spectacular this year.

Yesterday we celebrated Easter, and it seems that celebration is always so much richer with meaning if we have also experienced the reason for it all, the suffering, the death, and the burial. One line from a choir Anthem in the Maundy Thursday service struck me as especially fitting and telling. The Anthem was “Hear, O My Lord” by Horatius Bonar and Russell Schultz-Widmar. This is the line:

“Here I would lay aside each earthly load,
And taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven”.

That line, that thought, is so rich with meaning, isn’t it? During the regular service we wish each other “Peace of God”. And this is what it means, we can wish that and do have it because of the cross. This marked “Paid in Full” for the sins of mankind, to satisfy God’s Justice. So, we do have peace with God now, because He calls us righteous and holy. And our Savior says, “I died for this one”. Indeed, as St. John writes, “He is the propitiation for our sins, but not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2,2.

A Lutheran Pastor, when he was in Killeen, would carry a cross from Palacios to Killeen. I forget what started that, but the cross he carried was made of raw lumber, and this year it began to rain. Soon he was sort of wet and the wood of the cross, not treated, was soaking in moisture and getting heavier by the minute. Just then a TV truck pulled alongside, the window rolled down, and the fellow asked, “Hey, tell me, are you the fellow who is carrying the cross into Killeen?” He said “I was so miserable, so tired, so sodden with self-pity and rain water that I could only nod. And I really was wishing for a Simon of Cyrene to come by and take the cross and carry it me.” He began to appreciate part of what Jesus suffered for the sins of the world.

We can but try to follow Jesus. Go through the motions. But let us just not forget that what He did really did pay for the sins we do, and did satisfy the Justice of God.

For that we give thanks, and live “as unto Him" because we are His children, washed by water and Word to have faith planted in our hearts.

So Happy Easter, and may the post Easter Season be rich with daily blessing in your life.

GPD 4/5/10