Now the Green Blade Rises, verse 1, ELW 379
1 Now the green blade rises from the buried grain, wheat that in dark earth many days has lain; love lives again, that with the dead has been; love is come again like wheat arising green.
Devotion
People used to be able to find me on the seminary campus by asking, "Hey, where is the barefoot guy?" and folks would be able to direct them far better than if they had asked for me by name. There is something about being in contact with the earth that anchors you and gives the same weight as the whole world below you. You can feel the entirety of creation pulse through your feet. At the rising of each blade of grass there is a thrill. There is a delight in the life that presses against the soles of the feet, a joy of knowing that you are in contact with nature and can feel its pulse. It is a gift as sure as the dawning of a new day and cannot be abstractly grasped. You have to feel it with your bare feet.
Prayer
Strip us of the extras, Lord, so that we can feel you rising. Not below our feet but within us; rise again as we daily die to sin and awaken with the risen one as our Lord. Reach us through the flesh that was once yours, for your Glory is all around us. Amen.