A New Start

New Start

It’s that time of year again, when the onset of Spring brings new life to apparently dead trees, bushes, shrubs, and flowers, as well as to the majority of animate lives. It is that time when days start to get a bit longer; when the sun shines a little brighter and warmer; when birds build nests and animals begin the annual courting rituals. It is the season when life comes back and once again defeats death and puts it quite properly in its place.

It is one of those God-things that Passover, Easter as we know it, and Spring all coincided.

Passover, or Pesach commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for seven days in Israel. This falls around the middle to end of March most years.

Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (AD325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon following the March equinox. Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March. While the "Full Moon" is not necessarily the astronomically correct date, the date of Easter actually varies between 22 March and 25 April.

Spring officially begins on the March equinox or 20th/21st March

All three can be considered to represent the start of a new season or new life – Passover because all new life in Israel was spared when God passed over their houses; Easter because Jesus rose from the dead at the time of the Passover; and Spring because that is when all dormant Winter life comes back to new life for the coming year.

This time of year is the right time for a new start.

I wonder – what new start are you planning this year. We are planning to “Look Out” in the sense of being more outwardly focussed – more Kingdom focussed and less inwardly focussed. We want to look out for the run down who need building up; look out for our community.  We want to look out for the down-trodden, the disadvantaged, the hurt, and the wounded. We want to look away from our own ‘troubles’ and focus upon how we can help and alleviate others, probably far more pressing problems. After all, “A trouble shared is a trouble halved.”

What will your Spring clean lead you to start anew this year?