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Vancouver is famous for many things. One of these is our weather. Each year, about 1.5 meters of rain falls on the city. At the base of Grouse Mountain, the annual average is 2.5 meters. Environment Canada, the government weather agency, estimates that we have rain or drizzle for about 170 days each year.

But with rain comes something we all appreciate – fresh green growth. Never a day goes by that we cannot enjoy the green colour of flora, fauna, and even funga, to use the technical terms. And green means life.

Recently, I read a short devotion by a Canadian pastor. The devotional passage was Isaiah 41:17-18. These verses say:

The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.

The devotion by this pastor tells how Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb in a garden. It’s why on that first Easter morning, Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener. And in that garden in early Spring, the time of year when Jesus was raised from the dead, flowers started to blossom, new shoots emerged from the ground, buds appeared on trees, and all around the colour of new life - green - could be seen.

The passage in Isaiah is a promise of hope – a promise of God’s redemption. God will reverse the cry of the broken and needy. God will bring abundant blessing, turning dry, barren, and thirsty lives into lives filled with his grace, overflowing with his presence and love.

This promise is a wonderful anticipation of the resurrection. It points to the fulness and abundance that Jesus brings. Jesus said in John 11:25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” By Christ’s resurrection, life is offered where once there was death. It’s a promise displayed in that garden on that first Easter morning. There’s green in the garden and, because of Jesus’ resurrection, there’s green in our lives. We have new life.

Today, Jesus’ promise is as true as it was 2,000 years ago and as true as the ancient prophecy of Isaiah hundreds of years before that. Take these words, this Easter week, as God’s promise to you: the Lord will answer you, he will not forsake you; he will bring life where you are barren, and where you are dry and parched, he will flood you with his love. Jesus is alive and you can know new life – the green of his resurrection in your life.

Yes, Vancouver is known for its rainfall. But today, may you and I be known for the abundant blessing of God in our lives.

視頻大意翻譯(video Chinese translation):

大家早。

溫哥華有許多著名的事物。多雨的天氣就是其中之一。每年有平均1.5米的下雨量。在松雞山腳下，雨量年平均是2.5米。加拿大環境部氣象局估計，我們每年約有170天下雨或毛毛雨。 但隨著雨水的到來，我們都感激一些東西—見到嫩葉綠枝生長。無論我們住在這個城市的哪個地方，沒有一天我們無法享受植物、動物甚至真菌的綠色。綠色意味著生命。

最近我閱讀了一位加拿大牧師的靈修，他引用了以賽亞書41:17-18的經文:

困苦窮乏人尋求水卻沒有、他們因口渴、舌頭乾燥．我耶和華必應允他們、我以色列的　神必不離棄他們。我要在淨光的高處開江河、在谷中開泉源、我要使沙漠變為水池、使乾地變為湧泉。

這靈修提醒我，耶穌被埋葬在花園裡借來的墳墓中。這就是為什麼在復活節的第一個早晨，馬利亞誤以為耶穌是園丁。在早春的那個花園裡，花朵開始綻放，新的嫩芽從地裡出現，樹上出現花蕾，周圍我們看到綠色—新生命的顏色。

以賽亞書中的經文是個盼望的應許—神救贖的應許。神將扭轉破碎和有需要的人的呼求。神將帶來豐盛的祝福，將乾涸、貧瘠和乾渴的生命變成充滿他恩典的生命，充滿他的同在和愛。

這是對復活的美好期待。它指出了耶穌帶來的豐盛。耶穌在約翰福音11：25-26中說：

“復活在我、生命也在我．信我的人、雖然死了、也必復活．凡活着信我的人、必永遠不死。”

藉著基督的復活，生命被賜予在曾經有死亡的地方。這是一個承諾，在第一個復活節的早晨，在花園裡如此華麗地展示出來。伊甸園裡有綠色，因為耶穌的復活，我們的生活中也有綠色。我們有了新的生命。

今天，耶穌的應許和2000年前一樣真實，也像幾百年前以賽亞的古老預言一樣真實。把這句話，在這個復活節周，作為神對你的應許：主會回答你，他不會離棄你;他會在你貧瘠的地方帶來生命，在你乾燥和乾燥的地方，他會用他的愛淹沒你。耶穌是活的，你可以認識新的生命—他在你生命中復活的綠色。

是的，溫哥華以其降雨聞名。但是今天，你和我因神在我們生命中豐盛的祝福而聞名。 

Grace and peace

Pastor Callum