Dearly Beloved,
Grace and peace to you, Van Meter UMC Family! While we have had an unpredictable winter season, with bitter cold, snow, and gray skies, we have also had relatively mild temps and sunny skies. In a recent walk around the church yard, I was delighted to notice green shoots of spring bulbs poking up, and brave crocus blooms opening to soak up spring sunshine! That cheery surprise of purple blooms and green shoots are a most welcome sign of the enduring life sprouting up all around us amid the dead remains of last year's growth.
As I've studied the stories of Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus this Lenten season, I've been struck by the fact that God can use the simplest means, like elements of nature -- wind, breath, water, soil, and saliva -- to show us who Jesus is, remind us of who we are, and point us toward the new resurrection life that God offers to each of us.
In the story of Nicodemus, Jesus taught Nicodemus that the gift of faith is given through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit breathes into our lives like the wind blows, giving us power to live in a new way. Even though Nicodemus initially couldn't get past his literal understanding of Jesus' words, by the end of John's Gospel, Nicodemus believed Jesus is God's Son, the Savior of us all.
The nameless woman at the well, who had known only a life of abandonment and rejection, found in the living water Jesus offers, a new identity as a woman seen, loved, and valued by God. She was so transformed by her experience that she could not help but tell everyone she knew about the living water of God's love in Jesus.
The man born blind went from one who lived on the margins of society, judged as sinful because of his lifelong blindness, to a man who now saw everything with new eyes. He delighted in the new life he now had, as one known and loved by Jesus. Jesus used dirt and saliva to make the mud he placed on the man's eyes. When Jesus sent the man, saying, "Go and wash in the pool at Siloam", the man listened to Jesus, went where Jesus sent him, washed, and his sight was restored. By taking part in his own healing, the man received a new identity, and new life, filled with the brilliant light and color of God's love.
Finally, by bringing Lazarus back to life, Jesus showed that God has power over every single thing that can bring death in our lives. This month we celebrate the resurrection hope of Easter and the new life the resurrection brings. Because of God's great love for us and all of creation, there is nothing, not even death, that prevents us from living the resurrected life Jesus makes possible to us, here and now.
Jesus said to Martha, sister of Lazarus, "I Am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" The power of resurrection and new life is ready to burst forth into bloom in our hearts and lives today. Believe and really start living!
In Christ's gracious love,
Pastor Cathy