In the Garden

By Rev. Ethan Brown

Pastor and Minister of Care & Discipleship

Easter Sunday this year was beautiful. One of the great liturgical joys of the year is when the somber purples, grays, and blacks of Lent are put aside and the brilliant white of Easter takes its place. I loved seeing so many of you in bright Easter colors streaming out of the sanctuary to take pictures with our azaleas in full bloom. Though Easter was particularly early this year, spring has moved right up with it and has fully arrived with its parallel promise of life for this coming year. Though in a different climate and region, perhaps Mary was surrounded by similar new growth bursting forth along every limb as she wept outside the tomb many years ago. John was probably making a theological statement when he wrote about Mary mistaking Jesus for a gardener. Jesus the Son of God comes walking into a garden just like long ago God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The story of Eden ends with human faithlessness and our hiding and ultimately being separated from God, but on Easter, we are found, known, and accepted by God. Life claims us and God walks with us once more.

 On Monday, we were relaxing outside in the perfect spring weather. I was enjoying the smell of freshly cut grass and trimming a tree while Basil sat next to me blowing bubbles on Caitlin’s water bottle. When Caitlin suggested we go inside for dinner, Basil told her with all seriousness that we could not go eat because he and Dadda were working. In his toddler mind the bubble blowing was just as imperative as the tree trimming. So perhaps Easter is an invitation into a new garden with God, and perhaps it is a garden in full spring, but there is a lot of work to do. The garden of our world looks a bit overgrown, perhaps covered in vines and thorns and weeds, perhaps just a bit shaggy and diseased, yet spring has come, and now is the time to tend to the tasks of life.

Perhaps God is calling you to the trimming of trees and the weeding of flower beds or perhaps you must fill the garden with bubbles of delight and mystery and wonder. This Easter season, I pray you discover again the work God has given you to do and I pray you see the gardener who labors alongside you.