Life (April 2026)
Spring is the season of new life. It is a happy coincidence — but also a God-ordained
providence — that
for those of us who live in this part of the world our observation and celebration of Easter comes at the
same time as the dawning of the season of spring!
Today, I have seen for the first time this year a robin light on the fence in our back yard, and for the first
time this spring a rabbit chewing at green grass. Yesterday, I came across flocks of both geese and gulls
on the edge of now-open
water on the canal in the place where days previous only ice was to be found.
Water is running, and wildlife is stirring, and returning!
All of these signs, along with (at least slightly) warmer winds and some
sunshine, herald the promise of more and vibrant life to come.
In a wider circle of extended family and friends, I have also learned of the conception of new life, and
with other parents and grandparents await news of the pending arrival of another child.
All such instances serve to lift one’s spirits, and rightly suggest that God, Who is the Breath of life, is
blowing upon and among us.
In attending to the realm of the spiritual, we mark at Easter the raising of Jesus from death to life,
heralding the promise of new things to come. Death is not the last word, any more than winter is the final
season! Jesus lives!
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25)
Jesus also said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the
full.” (John 10:10)
Jesus also said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
Life resides in organic, growing things, and especially in people. Each of us alive! This is true
emphatically in the physical sense. If you are reading these words, or hearing them read, you are
physically alive. Yet God designs and plans and offers and brings more than just physical life. He is a
Spirit, and brings us life in the deepest spiritual sense.
Paul reminded the residents of Athens that in God, “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
He also tells us: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live
when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is
now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the
cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature
objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with
Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:15,
NIV)
It is in Jesus Christ that we really come to life — and really live! The same Spirit Who raised Christ
from the grave is the One Who lives in all who believe and receive the grace of new life.
Let us rejoice in the arrival of spring. Let us also rejoice in the new life which is given us through the
resurrection of Jesus, and in Whom we are born again by the Holy Spirit to live! Let us look for the
signs of new life, in the plant and animal kingdoms around us, but even more within ourselves and in
the lives of fellow believers around us.
Your pastor, alive, and seeing and rejoicing in signs of new life,
James T. Hurd
