I wonder if humans naturally long for “resurrection” as part of their mythology. Whatever dogma, it seems returning from death is integral to most faith systems. It is the rock upon which Christianity is founded.

As a converted Christian, I honor the day lilies for carrying in their life cycle the same assurance of return. The seasons here in New England resonate with the resurrection story; spring with its slow coming, summer filled with birdsong, rampant mating and blossoming, followed by harvest in fall. All of this abounding life slowly folds in on itself and withdraws into the seeds and roots that carry next year’s rebirth. Winter comes then in white and silence. Though it is dark and seems sometimes to stay far too long, Winter finally releases us all into the life of the next Spring.

Each turn of the season holds feasts and celebrations. Each turn on the cycle, on this wheel of the year, lays up memories and stores of all kinds to carry us humans along. We know, in our bodies, the linear passing of time. Yet we experience around us in the natural world the circling pattern that life dances. We know that after the long silence of winter will come the upspringing of life. There is reassurance in that knowledge. The hope of the Christian resurrection is a mental, dogmatic, representation of the truth told in the natural world. After death comes new life.

There are a lot of things being said and done that represent themselves as Christian. But it seems to me that the core of this belief system is the faith that eventually, after death, believers will know new life. So today, on this most important of Christian holidays, I pray for new life for Jesus’ followers. May they, as the lilies rise above their old stalks and spent leaves to flower, let go of the old fears and teachings that separate them from non-Christians and, finally, know new life.

I am holding the hope for resurrection.

©angela magara 2011