Christ has Risen! He has Risen Indeed!

Our journey East of Eden takes us through some other famous gardens besides the garden of Eden and the garden-city of the new Jerusalem.  This week in the church year we commemorate Jesus passing through the Gethsemane where he prayed for us and was betrayed, and the garden tomb, where he defeated death and appeared to Mary Magdalene, who supposed Him to be a gardener.  The world around us is filled with images of death and resurrection, not least of which is the simple act of planting a seed or bulb.  Our Christian hope, put simply, is that one day we will be planted, and rise again.  "O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory?....Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"