During the Easter season we rejoice in the gift of new life. With grass growing and flowers and trees blooming it is as though God is showing us His life giving power everywhere we look. Just as Christ was raised to new life, the world around us follows suit. What changed to make that possible? God provided the things needed for new life. Warmth, rain, and sun are the means of God’s life giving grace for the natural world.
God has called us into a new life as well. The Apostle Paul tells us that “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” God gives us new life by joining us to Christ in baptism. In this gift we are united to his life, death, and resurrection so that we can begin to receive a new life from him.
Our new life also comes from the means of grace that God provides to us. The Word proclaims God’s gospel of mercy and grace, baptism joins us to the unconquerable life of Jesus Christ, and the Lord’s Supper sustains our lives with spiritual food: the Body and Blood of Christ.
These “means of Grace” Word and Sacrament are the powerful things that we cannot live or grow without. With them new life is ours. I pray that you are encouraged in your faith by the witness of all creation that God is making all things, even your life, new this Easter season.
