Symbols

As I went along to church yesterday, I noticed a dove flying overhead, with a twig in its beak. I couldn't help thinking of that other dove in Genesis, which flew back to the Ark indicating the end of the flood. This one, I suspect, was just busy getting the material for a nest.

At church the sermon was largely on the theme of new life. It had never struck me before how appropriate it is to celebrate Easter in the spring. I appreciate that the early church thought it appropriate to organise their year of worship in some way reflecting the life of Jesus. By then, they probably had no idea when Jesus was actually born or died. They chose instead to take over the dates of pre-existing religious festivals, so Saturnalia became the time to mark the birth. And it has to be admitted we all, Christian or not, appreciate having something to look forward to, to break up the long, dark, often cold, winter nights.

But it wasn't until the priest was going on that I realised what a good time the spring was for a celebration & how appropriate a time of year to celebrate the death & resurrection of Christ, & the new life that brought to mankind. Spring itself is a time of new life. Buds come out on the trees. New shoots appear in the ground. the birds are all of a twitter, busy finding mates & building nests. Frogs too are busy working towards new life. As the days get longer an urge to be doing seems to hit every creature around. Even man, that most perverse of creatures who so often attempts to work against nature, suddenly gets the urge to start the spring cleaning, get out in the garden, start the redecorating, visit the DIY shop & the garden centre. It's as though new life is coursing through the veins of every living thing. What better time to celebrate the new life promised by the resurrection of Jesus?