Singing Hope: Glimpses of the Resurrection
By Fr. John Roderick, F.S.C.B.
May, 2025
Since the beginning of the new year, I have been discovering the music of Ellie Holcomb, a Christian singer, songwriter, and author of Children’s books. Her joyful and uplifting music and songwriting have been a special gift. Every time I listen (and sing along!) to her music, it is a wonderful spiritual experience. It helps me take my personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the Church more seriously and live it with greater depth. Listening to her music reminds me that my heart is truly made for God’s infinite and merciful love, and that the Father desires to give me the gift of this love through his son, Jesus Christ, every day of my life.
During Lent, I discovered a few new songs that really helped me prepare for Holy Week and Easter. What I love most about these songs is the continuous invitation to look at the promise God has embedded and hidden in creation. Ellie wants to invite everyone to look at the various signs of hope the Divine Author has written into the book of creation and how they are glimpses of the Resurrection.
In this reflection, I would like to share and comment upon three of her songs that were a guiding light to prepare and celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead.
Don’t Forget to Remember. This song was inspired by Psalm 19, “The heavens are telling the glory of God.” The song is an invitation to remember that creation is singing a love song every day. Through created reality, the Father gives many signs and reminders of his love for humanity. The song begins with the beautiful line, “Did you know creation is talking to you?” I love this invitation to remember and live an awareness that created reality is a vehicle, a type of sacrament through which the Father is trying to awaken and speak to each of his beloved children.
Ellie invites the listener to look at common everyday signs, such as the rising and warmth of the sun, the singing birds, the falling snowflakes, the spring flowers, and the shining stars, to name a few. They are all special gifts from the God the Father to remind us of his familiar presence and love:
So just like the stars won’t forget how to shine / Don’t forget to remember that all of the time / God’s light will guide you wherever you go / And you’re loved from the top of your head to your toes.
Light of Your Love. This song was inspired by Psalm 18, “For you, LORD, give light to my lamp; my God turns darkness into light.” The song is a reminder that God’s light is always stronger than the moments of darkness that accompany our lives. His light desires to come to us and accompany the most broken and hopeless places of our hearts. The song begins with, “I don’t have to carry all the things that weigh my heart down, even if it’s scary, You will hold my hand.” The first verse is an invitation to live a childlike faith and dependence on the presence of the Father amidst all of life’s difficulties. We don’t face our trials alone but alongside a familiar Presence.
The songwriter excessively repeats the line, “I’m gonna turn my face toward the sun,” throughout the song. For me, this line is the genius of the piece. There is a continuous need to return one’s heart and gaze to the Lord. The gesture of continually converting where one’s heart is looking is something that needs to be done a thousand times a day. This line is then followed by, “I’m going to rest in the light of your love.” We all desire to truly rest. What characterizes true rest in life and our hearts is returning and clinging to the Lord’s merciful love.
In the middle stanza, there is a beautiful reflection on the nature and action of God. Ellie writes, “When my heart is racing / I can take a breath and slow it down / Your love is amazing / You always come around.” These wonderful words invite the listener not to deny, distract, or hide from the moments of heartache, suffering, and distress that often dwell in our hearts. As Christians, we can stop and lift our hearts to the Lord with expectant hope of the certainty that God will take the initiative and come and call us by name. Christian hope is living with the certainty that God is the Divine Physician (Mark 2:17), the Good Shepherd (Luke 15:4), and the Gentle Knocker (Rev. 3:20) who always comes around.
The song ends with a beautiful invitation to surrender one’s life to God, “I don’t have to do anything / But remember how much You love me / I can trust You with everything / You say You will carry me.” During Lent, we were invited to remember that our salvation and happiness don’t come from anything we can fabricate, buy, or do (or order online). It comes through remembering God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ and what he did for us during Holy Week. We are called to fully trust and surrender and ask for our lives to be completely defined by our belonging to this Love through the sacraments and life of the Church. Here, we live in the “light of his love.”
Spring Sings. This song was inspired by the verse in the book of Revelation, “Behold, I will make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). In this song, Ellie desires to share her love for the newness of life embodied in the season of spring. This newness is a sign that retells the story of God’s son, Jesus Christ, during Holy Week and Easter. The song encourages its listeners to delight in the gift of springtime and recognize that every singing bird, new flower, new blossom, and sign of life is a reminder that God can make all things new.
It opens with the invitation to really look at what is taking place as spring begins, “Have you ever heard the spectacular song / That the earth sings each year when the spring comes along?” I really like this provocation because I am often tempted not to pay attention to what is taking place in front of my eyes or in what I don’t control. It’s a reminder, just like the first song, that there is a Presence that desires to speak and sing to me through nature and what unfolds in my life. The two stanzas that really highlight the parallel between spring and Holy Week are the following:
Seeds that fell down, looking brown like the dirt / They go into the soil, swallowed up by the earth / And after the winter’s last chilly frost / Oh just when it seems that all hope has been lost / Those seeds come up singing, right out of the ground / Stretching little green arms toward the light that they’ve found.
Spring retells the story of God’s Son who died / Was buried for three days, but then came alive / So spring sings the song, “Death isn’t the end / God loves to make everything new once again.” / And guess what? The spring song, it lives on in you / Because God wants to bring new life to you too.
This beautiful parallel between spring and Easter is often not recognized by the common observer today. Ellie desires to invite the listener to see the promise of this dynamic in their own lives.
The song concludes with a beautiful stanza inviting the listener to let their whole life and everything dwelling in their heart be determined by the newness of life promised in the Resurrection:
Spring sings a song, it’s steady and true / To remind every heart that God makes all things new / Christ died, but He’s risen / He’s risen indeed / And the spring sings about it, every flower and seed / And the spring sings about it, every flower and seed.
As we continue the liturgical season of Easter, let us ask for the grace that this period may be one of discovery of the newness of life promised to each one of us by Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead. May we learn to recognize and surrender ourselves evermore to the glimpses of this new life that we are given every day.
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Image featured in the banner: Vincent van Gogh, Almond Blossom, 1890, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum of Art, Amsterdam; PD-US
