Whenever the Israelites experienced a season where God did something momentous in their midst, they sang a new song. 

 Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song,
    His praise in the assembly of His faithful people. 

(Psalm 149:1)

As the people of God on this Resurrection Sunday, we prepare to celebrate the new life that Jesus brings to us all. Even in the midst of this global crisis, we are writing a new song. When we reach the end of this season of grief and pain, we will sing a new song because we know that Jesus has risen from the dead. 

This is the message of hope that comes to us from a loving and living God. From the ashes of death and despair, the first disciples witnessed God’s resurrection power. It was time to write a new song — an ushering in of the kingdom of God and an invitation to participate in Jesus’s mission in the world. 

With the psalmist, we sing the song that the promises of God are for us all: the LORD “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). We join our voices with the prophet Isaiah who declared the purpose of a coming Messiah: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:1-7).

Our world is in desperate need of hopeful anticipation of the resurrection and the power and promise it provides. Even as we grieve through the pain and suffering we see and experience, we know that Jesus, the Suffering Servant, knows our pain and stands with us there. This same Jesus stood with Mary and Martha in the loss of their loved one — and Jesus wept — but then came something completely unexpected: new life snatched out of the strong grip of death (John 11).

And so, let us sing a new song to the Lord on this Resurrection Day, and let our voices echo this refrain: Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen, indeed! 

Grace and peace to you all,

Board of General Superintendents