Growing up in Southern California denied me the experience of migrating through the intensities of all four seasons.  In Orange County, we had mild summers, few displays of fall foliage, a bit of rain and some fierce Santa Ana winds in the winter, and then a timid showing of springtime flowers.  I never really understood neither the cabin fever of winter nor the spring fever that follows.

Consequently, it took moving to climates further north to discover that I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder.   During the four years I lived in Wisconsin, I had a lot of trouble staying awake past 7 pm. I was moody and had very little energy from December through March.   I was overjoyed when spring came in April. (March is merely “mud month” in Wisconsin.)  April brought longer days, milder temperatures and an awakening earth that cheered my spirits.

I witnessed the most brilliant displays of spring during the four years I lived in Washington, DC.  The earth would explode with color: daffodils, tulips, forsythia pushed decaying leaves aside and brought me cheer.  They seemed as Lazarus, coming forth from their tombs to live again.   When the cherry trees were in full bloom, I would drive to the Tidal Basin and jog underneath their branches.  I felt jubilant with these floral fireworks above me.

Not until I had experienced the darkness of a deep winter followed by the color of a vibrant spring did I feel some measure of the joy promised by the Resurrection.  “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalms 30:5).

As we journey through mortality, we all have occasion to mourn.  Our mortality makes us vulnerable to sin and sickness, decay and death, weakness and weariness.  But in our mourning we can comfort each  other while we look with hope to the morning of the resurrection where we will be healed from the ravages of mortality. The sick will be made whole, the dead shall rise again, the weariness of this world will be laid aside for eternal joy.

Please enjoy this powerful Easter hymn performed by a choir of voices and a hand-bell choir and string orchestra. It also includes video of beautiful landscapes as well as video depicting Jesus during passion week. 

“He Is Risen” Mormon Tabernacle Choir


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