The Windows Preach: Butterfly and Lily
April 15, 2006 at 9:00p.m.
Easter Vigil
Tonight we look at the final two windows on the side of the church:
- The Butterfly Window right in the middle of the wall in our worship space.
- The Lily Window, which you can only see if you enter the cry room.
Tonight in our Easter Vigil service we are using two Easter symbols. The butterfly and the lily. What do they have to do with Easter? Let’s see.
THE BUTTERFLY
Joe sang a lovely anthem for us this evening: “In the Bulb There is a Flower,” also called the “Hymn of Promised. It was composed by Natalie Sleeth in honor of her husband Ronald, who died shortly after it was finished. In this beautiful song we heard the words:
“In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
Thomas Stafford writes this about the butterfly:
“There is no finer symbol of the resurrection than the butterly. From the larval stage, significant of the mortal life of (humanity), it becomes a chrysalis, to all appearance without life, then suddenly it bursts the cocoon in which it was sealed and comes forth to soar into the sky with a new body and beautiful wings. So the human body, after death is committed to the earth, but the spirit which once dwelt within it emerges into life everlasting.”
This is the wondrous mystery and miracle of Easter. Out of death comes life. Out of sorrow comes joy. Out of something all wrapped up and bound in itself comes freedom and love. Tonight we have come in darkness, but we know the light is upon us. It has already dawned in places like
Joyce Kilmer wrote:
The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings.
THE LILY
We love to sing the stirring words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic composed by Julia Ward Howe. The last verse begins in this way:
In the beauty of the lilies
Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom
that transfigures you and me.
The lily is mentioned in the Bible, but when we recalled Christ’s birth there are no lilies, just a stable.
The love letter of the Bible, Song of Solomon, mentions the lily:
I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
2 As a lily among brambles,
so is my love among maidens.
The prophet Hosea offers hope to a repentant
I will be like the dew to
he shall blossom like the lily,
he shall strike root like the forests of
The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus was buried in a garden and that when he appeared to Mary she assumed he was the gardener. Perhaps there were some lilies growing there. But the truth is that what we know as the Easter Lily comes from
So how did Easter lilies, a plant that naturally blooms in summer in most of this country, become such a symbol of Easter? For this we can thank a woman visiting
How does a lily symbolize the Resurrection? Lilies are buried in the earth, and emerge with new life and beautiful blossoms. Lilies and spring flowers that grow from bulbs- like daffodils and tulips- are symbols of joy, new life, new hope - and the resurrection of Jesus. The bulb symbolizes the tomb of Jesus, and the flower blossoms symbolize his life after death. Lilies are often called the "white-robed apostles of hope."
The Butterfly and the Lily. Two Easter symbols. We are glad to see them when we come to church. They remind us of the Easter promise. Death is not the ultimate reality. Life is the ultimate reality. With the butterfly we are free and with the lily we may blossom in joy and love. All because of an event which began in the darkness of an Easter Eve so many years ago.
