Jeremiah 31: 1-6                                                                                                         Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III

Matthew 28: 1-10                                                                                                                   April 5, 2026, Easter

“After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.”

Prayer: O God of resurrection power, glory be to you for raising Jesus from the grave and giving us the promise of a new dawn and a new day. Amen.

OK, here we go… you know what’s coming. The Michael Bublé song has Easter written all over it… ¯It’s a new dawn, It’s a new day, It’s a new life, for me… and I’m feelin’—good!

Now that’s Easter! It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and I’m feeling good! Right?

And I think a key line in the song is this one: “And this old world is a new world, and a bold world… for me.”

Yeah. Easter speaks of the old world becoming new. Easter is God doing a new thing.  Easter is new life coming out of death or dead ends. Thank God for Easter!

You know, way before Jesus, God did a lot of resurrection precursors. They’re in the biblical stories.  Like when God freed the slaves from Egypt. That was a new dawn. Manna and water were grace provided in the desert. That was a new day.

Jeremiah and other prophets told a weary people of God’s everlasting love and faithfulness, that they would be returned from exile in Babylon to their homeland. That was a message of new life.

They would be able to rebuild—again. God will show everyone new life by their crops being fruitful —again. And worshiping God would be renewed—again. That was a new day.

Not only would they rebuild their homeland in Jerusalem, but God also would also rebuild them spiritually. There would be joy in their hearts, again, like when they got grace in the wilderness. There would be enough everlasting love and faithfulness to share in God’s abundance. A new dawn and a new day and a new life was promised for the Israelites.

Yeah, but little did they know what God was really up to! Little did they know that one day 400 or so years later, God would send Jesus, God’s Son , and he would teach and preach about God’s new life in the form of a new covenant.

Little did they know that Jesus, would be crucified, dead, and buried by the powers that be. Little did they know that Mary and her women friends would come, on the first day of the week as it was dawning, and find the grave empty. Little did they know that God was making a spiritual new dawn, a brand new day, and a new life, for them. For you. For me. For the whole human family. Amen?  And we’re feelin’ good!

So, I couldn’t get Michael Bublé’s song out of my head this past week, mainly because the commercials are running all the time. Has a jazzy, 007 feel to it, doesn’t it? But it made me think that a new dawn, a new day are metaphors for all the ways God’s renewing, resurrection power is at work in our lives. All the new beginnings that come because God is a God of new life. All the ways Easter breaks into our everyday lives with redeeming, saving grace that can fill every spiritual pore of our inner souls.

That’s what Easter is about, dear church. The risen spirit of Jesus can flow into our lives to the point of overflowing. The risen spirit of Jesus that brings life into the land where deadness exists.

I read this great story about a physician named Dr. Bill Thomas who became the medical director of a nursing home in upstate New York. As he got started he noticed severe despair everywhere in the home. He decided to attack the three big plagues of nursing homes—helplessness, boredom, and loneliness—by throwing out all the artificial plants and replacing them with live ones. He tore up the lawn and created a garden for the residents and a playground for the neighborhood kids. And he brought in two dogs, four cats, and one hundred parakeets! He added fish aquariums.

It was crazy nuts at first, but soon the changes had a profound effect on the health and quality of the resident’s lives (Galloway, Lewis, F., “On the First Day of the Week,’ Journal for Preachers, Vol. XLIX, No. 3, Easter, 2025, p.3).

It was a new dawn. It was a new day. It was a new life! It was resurrection power! The old world becoming new. And all involved were feelin’—good! Because new life invaded the land that had a lot of deadness.

So, my encouragement for all of us today—ask God for resurrection power. Literally. Ask God to fill you up with new life. Ask God for eyes to see where new life can come. Ask God to let the risen Spriit of Jesus invade all areas of your life.

Because Easter is God’s new life at work. Easter is God’s love that is everlasting. Easter is a new dawn. Easter is a new day. Easter is new life. For me. For you. For all of us. And we’re feelin’—good. 



Amen.