Have you ever used the phrase, “It seems like it was only yesterday that…” to indicate that time seems to move quickly. That was the sense I expressed in worship yesterday as we observed the baptism of Jesus with clear memories of celebrating his birth “just yesterday.” The passage of time is one of our favorite topics of conversation. “Time flies when you’re having fun,” we say. On the other hand, when we are eager for something, it seems to take forever.

So I guess it’s appropriate that our calendar for the Christian year seems to jump from one mood to another in no time at all. Even as we are still hearing Christmas carols in our heads, the stores are getting ready for Valentine’s Day, and my mail has been full of advertisements for Easter materials. That makes some sort of sense when we realize how early the observance of Easter falls this year. (That’s true for those following the Western calendar. Eastern Orthodox Christians have a different set of dates, allowing them another month before proclaiming the resurrection.)

Someone asked me the other day if I could remember Easter ever being as early as March 23^rd. I thought, it must have, since I’ve been around long enough (I assumed) for that to have happened. Through the marvels of the Internet, I found a website that has a feature where you can find the date for Easter for every year from 326 to 4099. Playing with that, I began at 1900 and went through 2160 and learned that the last time Easter was on March 23^rd was in 1913, before my time; and the next time it will be this early is 2160.

Which is simply to remind us that the truth of Jesus’ victory over death is not tied to any calendar date or limitation of season. It is a timeless and universal reality that we declare to the world. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is not about springtime or flowers blooming or bunnies offering new life. It is about the transcendent truth of God’s grace and love that no force can ever defeat or overwhelm. Though we have tied our observance of the sacrificial act of Jesus and the triumph of God’s power to the lengthening days of Springtime (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), the gift of grace is outside of our human markers of time or space.

So, while I am a little overwhelmed by the need to be ready for Lent by the earliest Ash Wednesday I have ever known (February 6^th), I am more in awe of the promise and hope fulfilled in Jesus that is at the heart of our faith every single moment of every single day. “What wondrous love is this, O my soul!” It’s never too early, or too late for that matter, to come to that realization.

In his “Music Musing” entry on the General Board of Discipleship website, Dean McIntyre shares the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s favorite hymn, Precious Lord, Take My Hand. Dr. King had requested that song be played the night he gave what was to be his final speech. In the speech he declared that he had nothing to fear, for he had been to the mountaintop and had seen the Promised Land. The confidence he expressed, even in the face of human bigotry and hatred, was that God’s grace is greater than the power of darkness and death. He could face whatever transpired because of his trust in God, whose hand held his own.

That’s the truth that our Lenten and Easter observances will proclaim. It is the witness of our faith in every season, the same truth yesterday, today and forever. When we begin this year’s Lenten journey on February 6, it might seem early by our calendar, but in God’s realm it is right on time.

In the blessing of God’s grace,

Pastor Dick