This week my daughter and I started some new seeds for our balcony, window, and countertop gardens. It’s something that we do every spring—usually after Easter—one, because that’s when things calm down a bit, but also because I love watching them grow right now. Over Eastertide, where we hear stories about both the realization and the effects of the Resurrection, stalks and leaves emerge, and by Pentecost, when we celebrate the birth of the church, our seedlings are ready to be planted. It is probably not the exact right timing for herbs and vegetables, I know that, but there is something about watching life come forth, in seeing the passing of time lived out in a tiny plant, in connection to Easter, that brings me such peace and connection to God.

Growing things from seeds always reminds me of the song The Sun Will Rise, by a band called The Brilliance. My Easter playlist would not be complete without it. They are a Christian band, but not overly so. I discovered them when a Campus Minister I worked with shared her playlist “Christians Bands that Don’t Suck” with me. The lyrics are simple and make the following statement: “The sun will rise, the sun will rise / Bringing life to the earth / As it springs from the ground. / The sun will rise, the sun will rise.” And then it asks the question: “Won’t you dry all your tears lay your burden down?”

It is hard not to connect this song to Jesus rising from the dead and beginning to make all things new. It also brings to mind Mary Magdalene being asked why she is weeping, and of the exhilaration and dismay that Thomas, Peter, John, and the other disciples felt. All of it, that is Easter! That is what we celebrate! And, we are still celebrating!

Several years ago, The Brilliance gathered a wide variety of musicians, many that you wouldn’t think naturally would fit together, and made a recording and music video of The Sun Will Rise. It is simple, beautiful, and a wonderful anthem for this Easter season. Of the musicians that perform on this video are the duo that is The Brilliance. But, they gathered up other, eclectic voices to join in. Amongst the singer-songwriters, folk singers, guitarists and pianists, there is also a classically trained cellist, a Catholic Contemporary Christian Music performer, multi-instrumental percussionist, and a Gospel singer.

It is as if to say that this message cannot be contained. There aren’t boundaries that will hold it in. Their message, like the Resurrection, is for everyone.

Over the last several weeks we have heard:

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark”
…the sun will rise.

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week”
…the sun will rise

“They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing”
…and the sun will rise.

And, in our own lives, even when doom and grief and anxiety seem permanent fixtures,
eventually…the sun will rise.

Peace,