Sing to the Lord a New Song

It’s Easter! Christ is Risen! This is God’s doing! We have traveled through the darkness of Holy Week, aptly symbolizing the darkness of our human journey through uncertainty, anxiety, loss and grief. We are now in the time of resurrection hope, with new life, and new beginnings for you and for me. In this transition, as in all transitions, we have the free will to choose how we will respond. When we let go of our fears and selfishness we find our awareness shifting toward curiosity and hope. This is how we become ready to receive all that the Risen Christ offers: peace, forgiveness, and reasons for hope in what is far better for us than we can ask or imagine, as St. Paul says to the Ephesians.   

This is echoed in our opening Collect, which reminds us that God has prepared for us more goodness than we can imagine! This is not about being suddenly surrounded by material riches, earthly power, or stress-free living. It is about being open to divine love that helps us overcome our hurts and all that hinders the flow of love to us, in us, and through us. It is about receiving and sharing divine love that accompanies us in our stressful times and helps us find meaning and purpose. Our part is to pray for God to put into our hearts such love towards God that we find ourselves in the abundance of God’s promises kept. This requires us to release our old songs of woe and resentment and “sing to the Lord a new song” (Psalm 98).

John’s Gospel echoes the same message: Receive, live in, and cultivate God’s love so that it overflows to others. This is how divine power spreads throughout human existence, changing deprivation and despair into provision, comfort, and renewed hope.   

Eastertide is a wonderful time for people to embrace a new future with Resurrection hope. Like the spring season of the earth, hope springs up through the darkness, and we can see signs of the new life that will soon bloom. Trust in God and each other. And you have the eternal promise of Resurrection hope to lift you, encourage you, and sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things, and will continue to bless you as you seek his will and choose his ways.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen, the Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia. Amen.

Homily The Sixth Sunday of Easter