Alleluia!!.....(Sigh)....We should say that again, this seems to have been a long Lent (compounded by a long winter)  with no Alleluia's shouted from on high...together now.....Alleluia! There, I feel better, don't you? With these Alleluias tonight we celebrate resurrection: Jesus' resurrection to new life. This is a new life that is (also) promised to each and every one of us.

Our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori reminds us in her Easter message that we are not only called to remember and celebrate Christ's rising from the dead on Easter, but we are called to "insist on resurrection everywhere we turn."  And the Presiding Bishop says this is not an easy thing to do, this insisting on resurrection everywhere: look at Haiti, where they need to practice singing Alleluias among their devastation, and they are singing Alleluias. And she goes on to say it is not only those who have suffered from natural disasters who have to practice, but also each of us who need to practice yelling Alleluia, for we all have sufferings and pains and losses that can get in the way of meaning what we say when we yell Alleluia. She says that in the midst of our grief and sadness we must "stretch our spiritual muscles" in order to reach for and really believe those Alleluias we shout and sing. Because in that shouting and singing of those Alleluias... we can find resurrection moments....and model a resurrection life for those who need to see such a life modeled.

So, how do we "insist on resurrection everywhere we turn?" The PB admits this is not an easy task and needs practice. But where do we start? We can start in a secular type of way by looking at this glorious time of year we are in the midst of. Over the course of the last two weeks we have seen the blossoming of the lushness that is spring. During the past week alone, where there were only hints of green in the branches of trees, we now have leaves bursting forth. Where there were mere buds coming from the ground we now have full blown flowers in an amazing array of colors.  In the seeming blink of an eye, things that seemed dead have come back to life.

This resurrection life the PB calls us to lead can be just as surprising: where we thought things were quite dead in our lives, we look in another direction and when we look back we find that God has brought forth new life. Now granted this does not come without hard work many times, or, as our PB would say, without continued practice flexing those spiritual muscles.

Any of us here who has grieved the loss of a loved one can find this pattern of resurrection life I have just described: where we thought a part of us was dead forever because of the loss of that loved one, we can find at the most surprising of times a renewal where we thought rebirth was impossible.....Any of us here who has left a place we have loved will remember those barren places in ourselves that we thought could never be filled, and we look away and then look back, and somehow, things are different - rebirth has happened - a resurrection moment has occurred.

All of this does not happen in a vacuum: we cannot stretch our spiritual muscles completely alone. It is in intentional community that we can find hope and strength to live through those dead-seeming times. The strength and the hope that is shared in community is essential to our spiritual health. This is just like what happens in team athletics, where truly successful teams rely on each other, step in for the one another when rest is needed. Our spiritual community helps us live through those barren times, and over time we can recognize those resurrection moments. All of this is hard work and takes practice and patience and understanding and love: all of which are essential to our community of hope and faith. The Presiding Bishop says this the best when she says "The Christian community is meant to be a mutual hope society, with each one offering courage to another whose hope has waned, insisting that even in the darkest of night, new life is being prepared."

Now that Lent is done with for this year, I believe we are all called to look back at this time of fasting we have just completed and closely examine our lives, individually and corporately. While we allowed things to lie fallow:

• where has God been doing the surprising work of resurrection life?
• Where do we see those new shoots of re-growth and rebirth where we thought there was only emptiness?
• Where can we practice and exercise our spiritual muscles to insist that the resurrection life begun in this time of Lent can be brought to manifestation and full glory?

This Eastertide, investigating the answers to these questions is the place where we will be able to discern new life where we thought none would ever come back. During that investigation we will not be able to help ourselves, but we will be singing Alleluias, and meaning them, all the time.

Happy Easter.