So much can go badly and sadly in people’s lives. So much has gone that way, painfully, recently. People we dearly have died, and our friends are grieving their loss, and we grieve for their grief. People we care about have suffered painful accidents, and we pray for healing and for recovery and work at being cheerful and in the back of our minds recognize how vulnerable we and our aging bodies are. There are lapses and challenges around the place. Change is in the air, and not all of it is going to make lives easier, but rather more complicated, and maybe a little less comfortable.
Even the weather recently has been challenging. First it teases us with sunshine and warmth. Then, it turns to frost.
Still: We show up as usual. And in so doing, have the pleasant surprise of meeting someone new who’s come to the join the morning’s activities. How nice! And there’s a familiar face, we’ve not seen in a long time, with a few words about a few new ideas for things we could be thinking about … OK. And then as we’re talking after worship we’re reminded of all the astonishing signs of new, vigorous life in the world all around us. In our minds those girls we knew as children we had to keep occupied in church have their own children now. Almost incredible, but undeniably true. One of these days soon, we’re probably going to start making coffee again – a small thing, we know, but people like coffee. Especially when we can share it with old friends who are on their way to visit … something else on the horizon.
Life keeps living.
So we keep turning towards new life, and feel hopeful.
Image: “Grape Hyacinths, April 26,” by Andrea_44 from Leamington, Ontario , Canada [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Matters of Interpretation 