FROM THE PULPIT: LOWLY DANDELION MAY BE IDEAL EASTER FLOWER

When I think of the flowers of Easter, without a doubt, the Easter lily comes first to mind. Nothing compares to the purity, the majesty, and the regal beauty of this flower that trumpets the good news of Christ's resurrection. Our sanctuary will be adorned with lilies, in memory of loved ones, as we remember the hope of the resurrection.

Closely behind the Easter lily would be my second choice, the daffodil. Daffodils sleep through the cold desolation of winter. They awaken us to the advent of Spring's faithful return. Daffodils remind me of life.

As Easter flowers go, however, the lily is short-lived. It dies as quickly as it rises. I hardly have time to appreciate it. Bloom once a year then it's back to the same old grind. Hardly the way of Easter and the resurrection.

Daffodils, likewise, come and go pretty quickly. After their flowers fade, the foliage lingers, but is soon lost in the growing grass as everything else begins to "green-up" from Winter's dormancy.

The lily and daffodil are fine, but I'd like to promote the lowly dandelion as the perfect Easter flower. Think how it is with your perennial efforts to spray, chop, mow and eliminate the dandelion from your lawn. Despite your best efforts, it's back every year. Herod, the Pharisees and Sadducees, Caiaphas and Pilate all tried to rid their world of Jesus and his growing influence. They thought they had him every time. But as they say, you just can't keep a good man down.

I also think of those forty days between Easter and his Ascension. Jesus is popping up all over the place. He's on the

road to Emmaus with two disciples. Then he's entering the locked, upper room. A week later he's back again in that

locked room to show Thomas his wounds. Then he's present when Peter is fishing. Paul says he appeared to 500 people, then to James and then to himself (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Jesus is blooming all over the place, not just on Easter Sunday, not limited to the conventional places.

And what about those seeds? The way those dandelion seeds float through the air, carried on the currents of God's

providential winds to germinate in your perfectly manicured yard every year, remind me of the spread of the Gospel to

the four corners of the world.

And just when you think you've dug every indomitable tap root from your lawn, surprise! It grows back. You just can't dig deep enough. The tenacity of the dandelion is a statement of the Easter faith: Death has no sting. The grave has no victory. We will live again eternally.

Desmond Tutu, in Crying in the Wilderness writes, "Easter says that despite everything to the contrary, God's will for us will prevail, love will prevail over hate, justice over injustice and oppression, peace over exploitation and bitterness."

Realistically, the dandelion will never unseat the lily or the daffodil. The dandelion as an Easter flower? How foolish! Remember, however, God chose the foolish things of this world to show us his power and might (1 Corinthians 1:26-30).