Message from the Minister, March 2024
Living most of my life in the Northeast and upper Midwest, winter always seemed to drag on well into the month of March with no sign of spring on the horizon. The trees are bare, the wind, rain and sometimes snow just keep coming day after day. The skies are often grey, and the mood of the people is often the same. However, one vivid memory of spring and summer always arrives early to offer hope and color to our world, the first flowers of the season, the amazing little crocus.
I have a clear memory of walking to church one chilly Easter morning, after a spring snowstorm had dropped six inches of snow the week before, and much to my amazement, there were dozens of brightly colored flowers pushing themselves through the snow cover, stretching toward the sun in joyous proclamation that spring has sprung. It was the first time I encountered these wondrous plants known as the crocus. Now every year I await their arrival as the sign a new season has begun.
Like these wonderful plants, we too can remember the inevitable return of the warmth and light. We can feel drawn to the light even when conditions do not appear to welcome us. When our time to bloom has come, nothing will stop us from pushing through the soil and the cold and the snow to reach the light above. Each of us has beauty and vibrant energy to offer this world, and our appearance, like the mighty crocus, will serve as a beacon to all those still lamenting the winter of their lives that the time of light has come.
Whether we have been dealing with illness of the body or discontent of the mind, the season of our challenges always gives way to rebirth and regeneration; and in its final demonstration of infinite possibility, the Easter season offers us victory over separation and death. This is the greatest story ever told, the most intoxicating mystery of resurrection, the discovery that we are eternal beings.
Whatever happened in the experience of Jesus the Christ is also available to us in this very moment. He was not special or the only child of the Universe to have this realization. He was the example rather than the exception, one who came to demonstrate the eternal nature of all beings. He brought us a hope for a new reality, based on love and not fear. He showed us that healing and wholeness await each of us at the end of our long winter of unawareness. The resurrection of this one was simply a blueprint for the rebirth of our own spiritual consciousness, the natural movement of the individual toward the light.
In this season of our own journey toward the light of New Jerusalem, which is our inevitable spiritual awakening, let us be content in the process. Some things, like resurrection, cannot be rushed. It will come right on time. Our only concern is to feel the warmth of Spirit and to continue to follow the light.
Rev. Tony
