First Robins

I heard them this morning, the first robins of the season! Spring can't be far away! A robin's song is the precursor of better days ahead, warmer mornings and longer hours of sunshine. A robin's 'hop' upon the lawn in search of those ever elusive worms is, in my eyes, the dance of joy before the Throne of God. Theirs is the cacophony of hope which fills the warming air as the last of Winter's frost ebbs slowly from the ground. Theirs is the epiphany announcement of new life around the corner. Theirs is the prophetic voice my ears have been longing to hear, without even knowing it until I heard it today. Who knew a robin's song could mean so much?!

Yet, I shouldn't be surprised that it was such an exciting moment, though my kids say it doesn't take much to excite me these days, really, these last days have been darkened days on the journey. Lent + nearly every day and night with meetings, worship and/or practices + the current economic woes of our area, not to mention our country + funerals, visitations, counselings, worship planning, and trying to figure out staffing issues + not nearly seeing my family as much as I would like + not getting to take days off nearly as much as I should + cold, icy, snowy, cloudy, dreary days = the NEED for a robins chorus on a Friday morning in March. "I need Thee, O, I need Thee . . ." has had a great deal of meaning in these last days.

Then add to all of that the incredibly ironic, even oxymoronic actions of the IRS in launching an investigation into the United Church of Christ's welcome of one of our denomination's own, Senator Barak Obama, to our 50th Anniversary Celebration, and who, by the way, was invited long before he threw his hat into the ring of potential presidential candidates. If that doesn't make a persons head shake . . . and what makes it so incredibly ironic, even oxymoronic, is that it was one of the predecessor United Church of Christ congregations in the early history of this nation who encouraged and facilitated the Boston Tea Party, which was a stand against King George's taxation . . . and now the IRS is 'investigating' the UCC, nine months after Obama addressed the General Synod of our denomination, never once indicating to the UCC that there was even a question until the investigation was launched. It is a dark Winter's day for our government which behaves in such a bullying fashion, and it is a dark day in Jerusalem all over again as the Church, the body of Christ, is put on trial by those who fear its voice in shaping the world in a different manner.

But, for today, the robins song is not lost on this soul on the Lenten journey. I suppose an expression of appreciation should be extended to the IRS from the UCC for the timeliness of its working and for the manner in which this process is being conducted, for in so behaving the entire Christian community is being given a radically powerful reminder of the political environment in which Jesus lived and died.

As the robins song heralded a new beginning in the stone rolling away from the tomb, so we, too, would be well served to listen and take heart. Governments only have power in the things of this life and, truth be told, they probably do not have as much power as they think. God has the last word in all things and, in Jesus, God's Word is Life. The Lenten season is near its conclusion, Easter is around the corner. Let us thank God this day for the robin's song which hearkens our souls to the celebration of life found in the simplest of reminders.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don