United Methodist Hymnal #707

Music and Words by Natalie Sleeth; Copyright 1986

Growing up in the 70’s and singing in the children’s choirs at church, I became extremely familiar with the songs of Natalie Sleeth.  By the time “Hymn of Promise” was published in 1986 I was already a young adult preparing to face a new season of uncertainty and promise, a future that God alone could see.

The hymn begins with the line “In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree.”  Both the bulb and the seed are identifiable objects.  Neither is the end product but a piece of the cyclical flow of life. Neither resembles the thing that they will become, and yet they contain all the necessary DNA to grow into the next phase of the life cycle.

Some days I still feel like the seed, waiting to reveal what I am to become.  Other days I feel like the apple tree in full bloom of spring, filled with potential and life abundant.  Still other days I feel like the apple tree in the fall, dropping my fruit and preparing to go dormant for the winter.

The second line of the hymn “in cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!” illustrates that change requires sacrifice.  That caterpillar must relinquish its form, enter a “tomb” if you will, in order to emerge a butterfly.  It reminds us that we cannot cling to what we have if we want to fulfill the promise of what we can become.

Then the hymn reminds us that even “In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be.”   In a scientific article I recently read, I learned that winter is a remarkably busy time for plants.  Even though we cannot see much happening above ground, the roots of plants are busy growing and gathering nutrients that the plant will need come spring.

During difficult times, the winters of our lives, we too need to grow our roots and gather spiritual nutrients.  This will prepare us to spring forth with renewed energy and zeal for life.  It will also foster a deeper grounding in our relationship with God.

The last verse of this hymn is what prompts its use at many funerals: “In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity; in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.  In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.”

The current Covid-19 pandemic is forcing us to face our own mortality.  It would be a disservice to God if we view death as an end instead of a beginning.  Our time here on earth is limited but time itself is infinite.  We may doubt what we cannot see but we must believe what God has promised.  We accept that our life, like a good story, must have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but that story is only a chapter in God’s eternal story.  Our death here on earth is our birth into a heavenly life; a resurrection that will overcome death just as Jesus did.

With these thoughts I find hope.  In that hope, I find peace.  In that peace, I find love, and in that love, I find great joy.  I wish the same for you. Amen.