It’s not often that Easter falls on April Fool’s Day.  It’s fun to play with the juxtaposition of the two.  Seems to me that the very least we can say is that both are days for laughter, merry-making and joy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “the earth laughs in flowers.”  What a wonderful way to bring together the laughter and joy of Easter in light of our Lenten theme:  Love God/Love Creation.  For Easter is the Day of Resurrection, the day all life and all creation are restored to the fullness of their beauty through the love and power of God.  The tomb is empty.  The flowers bloom!

An early church father born around 625 A.D. in Syria, St. John of Damascus, wrote a poem for Easter that was translated and adapted into a hymn text by John Mason Neale.  Be sure to come and sing  “The Day of Resurrection” on Easter Day with congregation, choir, organ and brass.  It will lift your spirits and open your hearts to the laughter of the very flowers themselves:  Now let the heavens be joyful!  Let earth the song begin!  Let the round world keep triumph, and all that is therein!  Let all things seen and unseen their notes in gladness blend–for Christ the Lord hath risen, our joy that hath no end.

Alleluia indeed!