Fearless Faith

A spring snow this past week was especially welcome. For a few short hours it cloaked and covered the trees and landscape with artistic zeal, softening the edges of everything it encountered and quieting the immediate environment outside our door. The moisture it brought was welcomed with open arms in spite of the sub-freezing temperatures that felt compelled to accompany the snow.

Early spring bulbs responded with amazing resilience, defying the cold by hiding beneath the insulating layer of snow. The first blooms appeared by sheer will, testament to the durability of gardens in general when given half a chance. And how could the slightest despair find its way to the rhubarb patch which is coming on with characteristic verve? Even shadows of common objects took on new definition against the cover of snow which was highlighted by deep blue skies above.

As brilliant sunshine and azure skies greeted us, post-storm exploration was called for as we went about the necessary outside chores. The wood pile had taken on fanciful new dimensions and the pines displayed endless arrangements of layers of snow amid early growth tucked around last season’s pine cones. Daffodils and hyacinths were brave in venturing forth in spite of freeze damage, as if to assure us they were doing their part. The animals were basking in the sunshine, reward for tolerating the storm.

It has been a month of Sundays since our community landscape was abruptly and unceremoniously disrupted. The journey has been filled with surprises and no small degree of heartache and concern. But we have discovered that while we are physically apart, we are closer than ever in our common humanity. As we have adjusted to near daily changes in routines, we have also grown in our contemplative response to the challenges unique to each of us. Out of shared trials comes a broader understanding of ecclesia or community that denotes shared assembly, notably Christian assembly. What we realize pandemically is that we can scarce afford to be exclusive in our assembly, and that all have a role to play.

Early colonial American printer Christopher Sauer, a 1724 European immigrant, employed the phrase “for the glory of God and my neighbor’s good” as a business philosophy defining Spirit and community. If we are to take that to heart, then there is no shortage of ways that each of us can contribute responsibly toward one another. Defining that contribution is left to us, as God is wont to do.

How has the pandemic altered the landscape you encounter daily? Is it snowy and bleak? Are you more aware of the need that surrounds us? Is it wearing and tiresome or rife with possibility? Are we becoming more adept at appreciating the beauty before us, in the moment? Before all is said and done, there is likely a spring storm or two still in the hopper. Will we take it in stride by finding the value that is present and being determined to move forward?

In the meantime, be alert and diligent in each moment, share what you can of yourself, and trust in God’s providence. Offer what you can, ask for help when needed, be of good counsel for the other. There has seldom been a more appropriate time than now to act ‘for the glory of God and our neighbor’s good.’