A Sign of Hope on the Altar

The flowers appear on the earth…

Song of Songs 2:12a

This Sunday we are gently breaking with tradition on the altar. For many years we have restricted altar flower in Lent to bare branches or pussy willows. This is proper for the tone of the season that asks us to cut back on every excess so we might discover what is most important for our souls and in our lives.

On the fourth Sunday of Lent, however, we are permitted a little more ease in our discipline. I’ve written before about using pink or rose-colored vestments or hangings on this day to acknowledge what High-Church folk call Laetare Sunday, a Sunday “to be glad.” I’m skipping the pink stuff this year, but on the altar we will have budding (or perhaps blossoming) cherry branches. We’ll go back to pussy willows next week, but I feel like we could all use some cherry blossoms right now.

We are half-way through Lent, that part of the journey toward Easter where some of us may be asking, “Are we there yet?” The truth is that this the place where Christians live all the time, the space between already and not yet. Jesus lived, died, and rose again for our sake already, but the fulfillment of God’s redemption of the world is not yet complete. Even as we experience the “already” of God’s love on Sundays, we all know that the world out there definitely “not yet.”

So, we will take this opportunity to share a special sign of the hope of the Resurrection this week. Let it remind you that no matter how cold or difficult your life feels, God is always making things new. Out of bare branches, God brings beauty. There is truly nothing God cannot or will not redeem.

In peace,