Earth Day Sunday..."And God saw that it was good."

The 40th Earth Day has come and gone. And our little village of Leavenworth, along with the world, paused long enough in thought and deed to say a healthy creation - fresh air, good soil, clean water, robust forests - matters. Doing our part, our little congregation, with its' "new and improved" Jerusalem Cross Garden, in adding "Sunday" to "Earth Day", linked creation with our Creator. This is as it should be.

On Earth Day Sunday we dedicated a St. Francis of Assisi statue during worship. (click on photo to enlarge). We sowed spring wheat in the garden. And heaven and earth, creed and deed, were united for a moment in enacted truth that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Click here for song).

And during our simple Earth Day Sunday celebration, a whisper of the words spoken way back "in the beginning" were heard, ... "And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1: 10b). May it be so again!

Prayer: Dear Lord, let it be so again. May we encounter You in the garden (our own or the Jerusalem Cross Garden at church) as the invisible Conductor of the miracle of life - processes that yield bread for the table which, when broken as sacrament on the altar, feeds body and soul. And in our weekly wrestling with the Word in the lectionary groups, may our very lives, rooted in the Alpha and Omega, learn to speak love. Amen.

The Hills are Alive with the Blooms of Springtime

We hear it sung each summer as Leavenworth's theme song. Now we will listen to it in church this Earth Day Sunday as our ritual of welcoming Spring and celebrating the work of our Creator. And you know it well!

The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung, for a thousand years.
The hills are alive, with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears.

I love to go to the hills each morning myself at this time because what I find is that the hills really are alive...alive with the color of springtime. Walking past the Ski Hill amphitheater I cannot help but sing along with an absent Maria as I witness the transformation of the forest from winter. But I change the words of the song to give expression to what I am seeing and feeling within.

The hills are alive in a blaze of glory
With blooms that unfurl, as they have before.
The hills are alive with the shades of springtime
My heart swells with joy as it beats with "more."

(Or something like that, with apologies to Rogers and Hammerstein).

The color begins with the yellow Avalanche Lilies and white Baby Faces. Soon they are joined by blue Oregon Anemones. And all around is the promise of the "more" yet to be given - the purple Lupin, the bright yellow Balsam Root and a rare bloom the color of the dark chocolate found in our Leavenworth chocolate stores.

In the meantime, as part of our play in this trinity-mapped world of ours, the Jerusalem Cross Garden has been seeded with the spring wheat. And the Lenten challenge, fulfilled in Easter promise, will be re-enacted by creation on the holy ground of church garden where, as seeds humbly die and "resurrect" in fertile soil to yield abundantly, souls are nurtured and fed.

The Blooming of Easter and Spring

Two trumpets, two trombones and a tuba helped mark the occasion in worship. Easter arrived with musical fanfare amongst us!

Now the cross, decorated with the bright yellow blooms of daffodils, stands outside in the Centennial Garden to proclaim the victory - "Christ is Risen," "Alleluia."

Ahead of us lies a welcome Easter season, fifty liturgical days, coinciding with spring, to creatively celebrate Gods' triumph - light over dark, life over death, warmth over cold. And the worlds Earth Day becomes for us an Easter Earth Day Sunday as we celebrate the Christ who plays in creation. Our town's Maifest becomes an Easter Blessing of Seeds Sunday as we prepare to engage life by planting our gardens. And Leavenworth Spring Birdfest becomes an Easter Birdfest Sunday as, having officially sponsored the Mourning Dove, we prepare for the moving of the Holy Spirit amongst us on Pentecost and Aldersgate Day.

This is the time for us Christians, as creation awakes around us in the bloom of spring, to witness to the Christ who plays in creation (Father), to open ourselves afresh to the Christ who played and plays in history (Son), and to embrace the Christ who plays in community (Holy Spirit) and promises to make all things new.