My family moved into a new home late last fall. One of the disadvantages of a move at that time of year is that aside from the few occasions for shoveling snow this winter and the many occasions for raking leaves last fall, we spent very little time getting acquainted with our new yard. It's been fun this spring to discover signs of new life - tulips, hostas, flowering trees - where for the last several months we've only experienced brown grass, dry soil and bare limbs.

I've recently been reading The Sunday After Tuesday: College Pulpits Respond to 9/11, compiled and edited by William Willimon. It's a collection of twenty-seven sermons preached on college campuses after the September 11th tragedy. In Willimon's sermon, preached at Duke University Chapel on that Sunday, he reminds us that the word that God chose to speak into the chaos and despair at Creation was, "Light." And, says Willimon, "What God spoke into being on that first day keeps happening." God continues to create - everyday - every moment.

How fortunate for us in the North American Midwest, that these weeks of the Easter season correspond to the appearance of new life all around us -sometimes in surprising and unexpected places. Resurrection happens anew each day, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. New Life - in our gardens, in our flowerbeds, in our fields. New life - in our places of worship, in our places of ministry, in the places of our lives.

May these weeks of Easter continue to remind us of God's surprising new life.