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There in God’s Garden

By Vicar Lisa Rygiel

On Sunday, we sang a hymn that was new to me. It appears in the Lent section of our hymnal, so we probably only sing it once a year or so. The words of the song are thought provoking, and by coincidence, I came across a devotional written by one of the instructors at Luther Seminary. I am sharing the words of the hymn and the devotional below.

There in God’s Garden

  1. There in God’s garden stands the Tree of Wisdom,
    Whose leaves hold forth the healing of the nations:
    Tree of all knowledge, Tree of all compassion, Tree of all beauty.
  2. Its name is Jesus, name that says, “Our Savior!”
    There on its branches see the scars of suff’ring
    See there the tendrils of our human selfhood feed on its lifeblood.
  3. Thorns not its own are tangled in its foliage;
    Our greed has starved it, our despite has choked it.
    Yet, look! It lives! Its grief has not destroyed it, nor fire consumed it.
  4. See how its branches reach to us in welcome;
    Hear what the Voice says, “Come to me, ye weary!
    Give me your sickness, give me all your sorrow, I will give blessing.”
  5. This is my ending, this my resurrection;
    Into your hands, Lord, I commit my spirit.
    This have I searched for; Now I can possess it. This ground is holy.
  6. All heav’n is singing, “Thanks to Christ whose
    passion offers in mercy Healing, strength, and pardon.
    Peoples and nations, Take it, take it freely!” Amen! My Master!

Devotion

Valarie Kaur has written, “Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger protects that which is loved. And when we think we have reached our limit, wonder is the act that returns us to love.”

I think that’s a perfect summation of our Lenten journey on this Passion Sunday, which is also reflected in this hymn. We start with the joy of a procession of palms into Jerusalem. Then comes the grief of the crucifixion. Maybe we are less able to voice our anger? But suffering, particularly suffering of the innocent, rightly provokes our anger and becomes a catalyst for our enacted love.

We cannot, we must not, live only in anger. Just as the joy of Palm Sunday turns to the anguish of Good Friday and the profound silent absence of Holy Saturday, we come around again to the wonder of Easter Sunday. All of which are gifts from our God who is Love Incarnate.

 

April 18, 2025, Good Friday, 7 p.m. Worship

April 20, 2025, Easter Sunday

10 a.m. Sunday Worship with Communion

 

Announcements

  • Fellowship Time: Join us after worship in the Fellowship Hall for Easter Brunch and to celebrate Zion’s new members: Jody Alford, DeWayne Harris, Lorna Hassard, and Mark Nelson.
  • Flowers: There still is time to contribute to flowers for Easter Sunday, please let Vicar Lisa or Jo Moss know if you want to do so.
  • Lenten Soup Suppers: Our final Lenten Soup Suppers is at 6 p.m. tonight (April 16). Join us in the Fellowship Hall for food, fellowship, and a brief study.
  • Weekday Bible Study: Continues at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, and again at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 19. The studies explore Biblical allusions in everyday life. The same themes will be explored on both Thursdays and Saturdays, so participants have the option to attend either session, or both. The Rev. Dr. Becky McNeil will lead us in our inquiries. Bring a Bible and your curiosity.
  • Good Friday: Our Good Friday Service begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 18, in the Sanctuary. This solemn evening service is intended as time of reflection as we anticipate the culmination of the Three Days of the Easter Vigil. We will gather in devotion, but always with the promise that the tree around which we assemble is indeed a tree of life. At the end of the service, we will strip the altar and depart silently 
  • Special Thanks: We are grateful to everyone who helped with Spring Cleaning inside the Fellowship Hall and Sanctuary last Saturday.

 

E-formation – Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025

Resurrection of Our Lord / Easter Day

By the second century, Christians had shaped Passover into an annual celebration of Christ’s resurrection, and by the fourth century they had agreed to keep this Christianized Pascha on the eve of the Sunday following the Jewish festival. By medieval times, the full Easter Vigil had been relegated to monasteries and convents, and so the Sunday morning celebration of Easter assumed priority in most churches. Since to be Christian is to believe in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, observing Easter became the primary mark of a practicing Christian. The term “Easter duty” arose from the regulation that to be considered Christian, a person was required to make penance and then to attend eucharist at least once a year, at Easter. Since even now many Christians attend worship only on Easter, the challenge is to tell the whole story of salvation while focusing on only three readings and to distinguish Christ’s resurrection from a springtime flower show. Luke’s resurrection account, by referring to Christ’s death, is helpful for this task.

Luke 24:1-12

Current liturgical advice suggests that John 20 be proclaimed at the Easter Vigil, following the Johannine gospels throughout the Three Days, and that Luke 24 be used on Easter Sunday, following the gospel of the year. Luke highlights the role of the community: the group of women, more than the named three; the eleven and the rest; and Peter. Luke does not attempt to describe the resurrection itself, which is an article of faith, not an observed and reportable fact narrated in the Bible.

Acts 10:34-43

Throughout the eight Sundays of the fifty days of Easter from Easter Day through Pentecost, the three-year lectionary appoints first readings from Acts. The idea is that the Spirit extended the power of the resurrection from the empty tomb to the whole Christian church, spreading throughout the Greco-Roman world. Thus, we can think of each Sunday’s reading from Acts as another telling of the resurrection. In the sermon credited to Peter in Acts 10, Luke referred to the witnesses of the resurrection who “ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” We believers see ourselves as among these witnesses.

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

The reading from Isaiah 65 relies on an ancient belief about the perfection of the first creation, and this passage from Paul suggests the perfection of a final creation. Here we are in the middle, with death and other enemies still powerful forces to contend with. We hope in Christ, the first fruit of the tree of life.

 

Zion's Lutheran Church

A Reconciling in Christ Community

zionsluth@gmail.com

719-846-7785