Spirit of Life,

On this day when we celebrate resurrection, let us indulge in a rare gift. Let us pray for something that we know will come.

Here on our beautiful, rapidly spinning planet, where nothing has ever stopped the sun from rising in the east, let us pray for the dawn.

In the midst of our tangled, messy, complicated lives where every waking moment is beset by enough choices to make our heads spin, let us pray for another chance to be kind.

And now as the spring flowers show their faces, nourished by the dead leaves of last fall, let us pray for new life.

Spirit of life, this much I know is true. Thirteen billion years of barren darkness were not enough to stop life from blooming on earth. Whatever comes, whatever pain and loss we endure, however long the hardship, it will not be enough to stop the return of the light.

May we know that our struggles matter; that Friday on the cross matters just as much as the promise of Easter. And when we pray for resurrection, may we know for once, that this prayer will be answered. This promise has been kept since the first cells divided. There will be more life.

Let us rejoice in it.

Amen.

— Nate Clark